In Romans 8:29 we read “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren”. Those whom God foreknew, He has destined us to be like His son Jesus. Our life here is temporary and Jesus Christ is our destination. While we are here we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus – to become more and more like Jesus each day. When God created man, he made man to be in His likeness (Genesis 1:26,27). This is a privilege that man has over all other created beings. In our walk of life, this should be always in our mind. We should reflect the character of Christ in our daily life. We need to be very careful about this. In Genesis 3, we see of the fall of man. The first temptation that man faced was the desire to be like God. The root of the sin in this temptation is to be someone great. Our aim should not to be someone great and get people’s appreciation but to be conformed into God’s image. All of us constantly face this temptation. Let us be careful that we are only conformed to God’s likeness.
We are all familiar with the story of Cain & Abel in Genesis 4. In v7, we see “Sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” We need to overcome sin. We need to put an effort. We need to overcome sin because sin’s desire is for us. In Galatians 3:27 we read, “clothe yourselves with Christ”. This should be a daily routine. Only then can we master sin. Romans 8:6 says “a mind set on the flesh is death”. Our mind should be set on the Spirit because there is no good in the flesh. When we rely on the flesh, we go away from being confirmed to the image of God. The Israelites practiced circumcision in the Old covenant. In the new covenant we need to circumcise ourselves from sin and the desire to sin. We should rely on the Spirit. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In the garden of Eden, Eve felt that the forbidden fruit was good. When we feel something in the flesh is good, that is when we fall into temptation and lose our conformity to the image of Christ. After man fell into sin, God drove them out of the garden and stationed a flaming sword at the gate. If now we need to go to God, we need to put to death our flesh because our flesh has only a desire to do evil.
In Romans 8:10 we read, “Christ is in you”. How can we know that Christ is in us? If Christ is in us, the Spirit is alive in us because of righteousness. In v11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” There is a life that resurrected Jesus from the dead. We also need that life, that Spirit in us to overcome sin in our bodies. Paul says to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, “but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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.” When we turn to the Lord with repentance, the veil is taken away and we have complete freedom to come into His presence. When we hear the word of God, we are able to see our drawbacks and areas where we are not confirmed to God’s image (like we see in a mirror).
So let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling having no confidence in the flesh. Let us always remember that there is no good in our flesh. In Ephesians 1:3-5 we see that God has chosen us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love. God has adopted us as His sons and daughters. What a great calling. In 1 John 3:2 we read that when He comes, we will be like Him. Today we may be falling; we may still have confidence in our flesh but let us not give up. We have the hope that we will be like Him. Let us fix our eyes on the Lord and purify ourselves just as he is pure.
May God bless all of us.
