How Do We Become More Like Christ
How Do we BECOME More Like Christ?
Have you ever thought about the difference in acting Christ-like and becoming like Christ? All throughout God’s word, He reveals to us who it is He is calling us to become. He doesn’t ask us to act Christ-like; instead He created us to become like Christ. That seems too big to even attempt, doesn’t it? Me become like Him?
We want to acknowledge that we already know this. We want to declare that we get it and are working on it. However, we all secretly recognize that we fall way short. We fall shorter than anyone else knows or would even guess. We know our shortcomings and recognize that God knows them as well. Yet, He is asking us to do something that we simply cannot do.
Isn’t that what Christianity is really all about? Recognizing that we could never be good enough, we could never do enough, and on our own we cannot do what He has asked us to do? This is exactly why we need Jesus. Because our identity is in Christ – we are enough. It is because of what He has done that we no longer need to strive to earn our place. And apart from Christ, we can do nothing – but we can do all things though Him who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13)
So, how do we become more like Christ? By definition, the word become means to begin to be. It is like taking a step in the right direction. God is so good - He has given us a map to follow, a path to walk. But it is not enough to just read the instructions laid out in His word. Consider this example… Take any well-known person from history. Have a person in mind? Maybe you have read about them, studied them and may even be able to ace a test filling in the blanks with every detail of their life. But even so, could anyone declare that you are becoming like that person? Knowing about them and getting to know them are two totally different things. We will never grow to become like someone we do not know.
Steps to Becoming Like Christ:
1. Grow in knowledge. The deeper our knowledge of Jesus grows, the deeper our understanding of Him grows, the more we will long to become like Him.
2. Open our heart. Our knowledge must impact our hearts. Head knowledge alone will not change us or grow us. But it is our heart that convicts us and gives us the desire to obey God’s word.
3. Develop intimacy. The more we come to know Him and the more we obey Him – a real relationship begins to develop. We learn to abide in Him.
4. Recognize His greatness. As we come to know Him, we see how good He is, how big He is and we realize that nothing compares – not even our hardest struggles. This is when we open up to Him increasing in our lives and decreasing our self-centered ways.
5. Surrender. Surrender is not a one and done action. We are to continually surrender more and more areas of our lives. As we do, we will become more and more like Him.
Sounds easy, but it is not. We have an adversary who will distract us and derail us from pursuing Jesus and becoming like Him. We have to restart again and again and again. Beware, when we think we are good and don’t need to do any “becoming” – we are lukewarm, prideful, and God would call us, evil. Oh my!
Today, I am due for a re-start, how about you? Let’s recalibrate and position ourselves back on the path to becoming like Christ one step at a time. Let’s make Jesus the center of our life.
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 John 2:6
Join us as we talk about each of these steps over the next few weeks. Be sure to subscribe to the Blog so you don’t miss a post. And hop over to Facebook and Instagram and follow along there. Watch for videos and posts all on this topic.
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