December 15, 2017 CHRIST BEING FORMED IN US
Galatians 4:9,19: “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is that you turn back again to weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you-.”
There is obviously a prevalent belief or viewpoint among many believers that contradicts scripture and the end result of this viewpoint is that one remains immature in the faith. It’s possible, and even likely, that we view salvation-going to heaven when we die-as the ultimate goal. Certainly the salvation of man is the big issue-but there is more. Our salvation is a beginning point-it’s our introduction into the kingdom of God-and life in the kingdom of God is clearly defined. It is God’s desire that we trust Him for our salvation, but it is also His desire that we be transformed into His image even here on earth. As you read the writings of Paul and other New Testament writers, you see that there great passion was to see believers maturing in the faith-becoming like Christ. The error that many fall into is the belief that because they are ‘in Christ,’ there is nothing else required of them and nothing else really matters. However, BECAUSE we are in Christ, we have a part to play in our being transformed into His image. 2 Corinthians 3:18. Because we are in Him and He is in us, and because we are righteous in Him, we are to live righteously; our actions, out thoughts and our attitudes are to flow out of our relationship with Him. In 1 John 4:17 we find an amazing statement: “as He is, so also are we in this world.” My point is, that we are not like Him automatically, but we become like Him when our heart is turned to Him and we come to understand that we have been made new and that we can now walk in the Spirit, thus pleasing Him in all we do. The tendency of man is to find satisfaction by keeping certain rules or laws, and this tendency can also be the case for believers as they feel that if they keep the law and certain rules, they will feel better about themselves. Paul’s message to the Galatians, and to us, is that we have freedom in Christ; He has already received us; we are now in Him-it’s a done deal. We cannot ‘get closer to God’ or be more spiritual by the keeping of laws and rules; Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf. Now, the issue is that of Christ being formed in us. When one comes to know Christ as Savior, he is immature in the faith, but he is not to remain immature, but rather is to grow in the Lord, and as He grows in the Lord, he is being transformed into the image of God. Paul is telling us that with the passing of time, we should be looking more and more like Christ-Christ is to be being formed in us. This being the will of God for us, we should guard against living on a spiritual plateau where Christ is not being formed in us, and we must avoid the tendency to think that by the keeping of the law, we are accepted by Him. We must cling to the fact that Christ is already in us, and we are in Him, and because of this reality, it is His life in us that we are to express. Because He is righteous, we are to express righteousness in thought, word, and deed. Let us have as our chief goal in life, that of Christ being formed in us. None of this is done by the works of the flesh, but on by and through the grace of God.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
Blessings,
Buddy
RSS Feed