Greetings to you, dear friends! I bless you this day! I thank God for giving us His Word daily; it strengthens us and helps us move forward.Yesterday we started talking about God being more interested in the formation of our character in compliance with His standard and not in our comfortable and easy living here, on earth. The formation of such a character is not possible without making some changes and laying aside those things we are used to that make our life comfortable and pleasant.We also discussed that if we are not ready to change and start resisting them, then we are not really ready to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.What does it mean to be a disciple? A disciple is a person who is learning from someone else and knows that he needs to grow and gain some knowledge. A disciple is one who follows both the teaching and the life of his or her teacher. He imitates his teacher and later grows into the likeness of his teacher. Here is what Jesus said about it:
«A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher»(Luke, 6:40).
A disciple of Christ is one who realizes that he or she isn’t perfect and needs His Teacher very much. So a disciple commits himself to the teaching, life and works of Christ, demonstrating a desire to become like Him. As disciples of Christ we learn from Him in order to change, be transformed and grow in this life.Throughout the Bible we see the principle of change and transformation working in people’s lives; it is because God desires for us to change. He is not interested in our comforts; He is interested in the character. He desires to form in us the same divine character and the same traits that were in Jesus. We can read about it the Epistle to Romans: «And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren» (Romans, 8:28-29).
God desires for us to spiritually grow and become like Jesus Christ. God foreknew us and predestined us to grow into the likeness and the image of His Son Jesus Christ. It means we will have to change our lifestyle. We were born with a sinful nature; we as humans have abandoned the initial order we were created for. “Then God said, „Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis, 1:26).
Now, when God has redeemed us, He wants us to change and grow into the original image – the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ. «And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man» (1 Corinthians, 15:49).
The sinful image of the first Adam defiled humanity and took away God’s glory. But now God once again wants to glorify men. So God did everything possible so that a man once again could bear the heavenly image – the image of Jesus Christ.As we allow God to change us, the fruit of our lives will more and more comply with the fruit of His Spirit; the character of Christ will more and more appear in us and then the life of Jesus Christ Himself will more and more flow through us. Allow God to adorn your life by letting Him to make the necessary changes inside of you! I wish you God’s abundant blessings on this wonderful spring day!Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
