Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Genesis 1:27
Sharing in Sufferings
I once gave as part of my sermon the question, “Who would like to share with Christ what He had?” Most raised their hands, but then they might have thought twice about it because God’s Word says we “share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings” so that “through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2nd Cor 1:5). In fact, to be shaped into the likeness of Christ, which should be everyone’s goal, we should know that since we are the children of God, we’re “heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8:17). We cannot be like Christ until we have suffered like Christ, although not nearly as much as He did.
Obedience to the Father
Another way God is conforming us into the image of Christ is have the humility He had, because even though He is God, He left His glory in heaven to be born into flesh, and “being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). Christ was obedient…even to the point of great suffering, shame, and “even death on a cross.” How is God remaking us back into His own image? It is through obedience, even if we suffer for it (and we will).
Conformed into His Image
God is using His Spirit to shape us, bend up, and mold us into the image of the Son of God. Even though we fall infinitely short, it is “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29). Did you read that? We’re “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” In other words, it’s going to happen, some more quickly than others, but it is going to happen, even if it’s unseen by the naked eye.
Conclusion
Philip once asked Jesus, “Show us the Father” (John 14:8), to which Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), so we don’t have to guess about what God is like because Jesus is the revelation of God the Father. That’s because their wills are one and the same. Just read about Jesus and you know more about the Father.
