Thanks for dropping by! We pray that you will be as blessed by reading this week’s post as we were through studying the word to write it. Eric

We established in our last post, ‘In His Likeness”, that man was created in God’s likeness. However, after Adam’s disobedience, sin caused the unity between mankind and God to be lost. Thank God the Father set a plan in motion to restore that relationship through the work of Christ! Since Christ made it possible for that unity to be restored, we are going to examine what that looks like for those of us who accept His sacrifice. We will attain a fuller understanding today of what our lifestyle, actions, and behavior should look like to those around us.

Achieving Christian maturity is not a instant event. Poof! You are a Christian and your life’s attitudes, actions, thoughts, and behaviors are instantly conformed to God’s nature. You see, because of Adam’s sin, we were all born with a sin nature. The unity God desired with man was broken and all of mankind born after that fall was born with a sin nature. When we become a believer our sin nature doesn’t automatically “go away”. In fact, we face conflicts between our will and flesh and the will of God daily. Walking in victory is a process! 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us that we are “being transformed into [God’s] image from one degree of glory to another.” (ESV) This process is an ongoing one!

Ephesians 4:22-24, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.“

This passage reveals that we are to put off the “old man“ and put on the “new man“. In verse 22, the phrase, “put off” or lay aside, apotithemi in Greek, means “to put off or away, which anyone gives up or renounces”. The textual notes in the New Spirit Filled Life Bible add this insight, ”The old man…the new man contrasts the old lifestyle dominated by the spirit of disobedience with the believer’s newly created capacity for a lifestyle of obedience by the Holy Spirit’s power.” Our unity with God will be negatively effected if we choose to give into the desires of our old sin nature.

When living on the Earth, Jesus lived in the will of the Father. He set the perfect example of living in the likeness of the Father and we are to be imitators of His example. The example Jesus set was seen in His words, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38).

Jesus said, “For I always do what pleases [the Father]” (John 8:29b) and “I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love." (John 15:10)

Another example given to us by Jesus is living a life of prayer:

• Jesus went to the mountainside to pray and spent the night. (Luke 6:12)

• Jesus took Peter, James, and John up onto a mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28)

• Jesus told His disciples a parable to teach them they should continually pray. (Luke 18:1)

God is love and whatever He does is born of His love. Most importantly we are to love God, then we are commanded to love others. (1 John 4:7, 8; Mark 12:30, 31) Love, God’s love in us, leads us to the fulfilment of the law. Thus, to obey God’s law in our lives rightly, we must have His love for others in us. “John traced love to its source in the nature of God as revealed at the cross. Christians show that they are God’s children by manifesting sacrificial attitudes and actions like Him.” (New Spirit Filled Life Bible textual notes). It is only through total love for God that we are empowered to love ourself and our neighbor rightly.

Throughout the scriptures Jesus demonstrated servanthood. Christ took on the form of a bond servant, humbled Himself, and was obedient to the point of death. (Philippians 2:5-8) He came to serve. He taught the meaning of true servanthood and that it is not beneath one’s dignity to perform the most menial of tasks when He, Himself, washed the disciples’ feet. (John 13:14)

We are living in His likeness when we hate sin and do what is right (Hebrews 1:8, 9; 4:15).

“You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” (Acts 10:37, 38)

Our life should reveal the presence of the Holy Spirit through the demonstration of His fruit and gifts as it was revealed during the ministry of Jesus. We see the fruits which are to be manifested in our lives in Galations 5:22, 23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 reveals the gifts of the Spirit which were manifested in the life of Jesus and should be manifested in our lives as well. The Holy Spirit works through each one of us as He determines, not as an act of our own will, but when we are in submission to His will. He distributes some of the gifts to each of us, so we can together be the effective body of Christ doing the work of Christ on the Earth, fulfilling His purposes. The gifts include: a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirts, speaking in different tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. The ministry gifts listed in Ephesians 4;11 are: apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

Hebrews 1:3a (ESV) reveals “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature”.

Ephesians 4:29 instructs us to “put on the new nature created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”.

When we live in the likeness of Jesus our lives will demonstrate: love of God and mankind, servanthood, hating sin and loving righteousness, manifesting the presence of the fruit of the Spirit, and the operation of spiritual gifts.

A major component of our life as a believer is faith. When the disciples were not able to minister successfully to a young boy, they asked Jesus why. His response: “because of your little faith.” Then He told them if they had faith like a mustard seed they could move mountains. (Matthew 17:20) Faith comes through believing that what God has said is true. (Romans 10:17)

The scripture gives us a full revelation of God. Spend time reading it and asking God to give you a revelation of Himself and of how we should live to reflect His likeness and fulfill the work of His kingdom.

— Scripture references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted as ESV (English Standard Version).