The Worthy Goal

God's call for us is to be like Jesus.

You can see this deep desire in the normal human desire to do well, to excel, to become strong, to be wise, to see our children do the same.

When Christ enters our life, we are then given a new goal, that is, to attain the "full stature of Christ."  God gives us this goal together with the means needed to attain it.

Open your Bible to these verses and let them sink into your heart -

• Romans 8:29 - "be conformed to the image" of Jesus.  
• First Corinthians 15:49 - "bear the image of the man of heaven." 
• Second Corinthians 3:18 - we see the glory of the Lord with "unveiled faces" and "are being transformed into the same image."
• Philippians 3:21 - the Lord promises to "transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of His glory by the power that enables him to make all things subject to himself."
• Colossians 3:10 - we have a "new self which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator."
• Second Peter 1:4 - God has given us "precious and very great promises so that" we "may become participants of the divine nature."
• First John 3:2 - "We are God's offspring now" and "we will be like Him."

God's standards are so good, so high, so sweet!

Here's more from Second Peter 1 -

     ³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
     ⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
     ⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

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