HOW TO BE USEFUL TO THE LORD
CHAPTER FIVE
WEEK 2 - THURSDAY
Bible Reading: Rom. 8:29-30, 9:20-24, 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 1:4, 5, 13, 4:23; 1 John 1:3, 3:2-3
Read and pray: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Rom. 9:29)
GOD’S CONCEPT ABOUT SALVATION: THAT WE MAY BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON (1)
If we carefully read the Bible, we can discover God's concept about salvation. Every person who runs a business has an idea about how to manage it, and the management and organization of their business are based on this idea.
In the same way, God also has an idea about the economy and dispensation of grace to us. Today, in Christianity, the prevailing concept is that we were sinners, but after we believed in the Lord and received God's forgiveness, we were saved. Therefore, after we die, our soul will go to heaven to enjoy eternal blessings. However, remember that this is man's concept, not God's.
Romans 8:29 says, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined." Why did God predestine them? To go to heaven? No. Verse 30 further says, "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called." Did He call them to go to heaven? No. The verse continues: "Whom He called, these He also justified." Did He justify them to go to heaven? No. The Word says that "He also predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son." God saves us not to go to heaven, but to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Ephesians 1 says that God "chose us in Him [in Christ] before the foundation of the world (...) for adoption as sons by Jesus Christ" (vv. 4-5). [The term adoption of sons can also be translated as sonship.] God's intention is that we become children of God. Then, chapter four says that His desire is for us, the saved, to attain to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (v. 13).
The first epistle of John 3:2 says that, undoubtedly, "now we are children of God," and further, "it has not yet been revealed what we shall be." John also says that, however, when the Lord returns, "we shall be like Him." Moreover, he says, "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (vv. 2-3).
So, what is God’s concept? God’s concept is not as simplistic as ours. The Bible says that God has a desire in His heart, according to which He wants to gain a group of people to be vessels of His glory in the future. Like a potter, God made us from clay. We were nothing but pieces of clay, but we were created by God to be vessels, even vessels that He prepared beforehand for glory. God’s intention is to put Himself as glory in us so that we may become vessels of glory (Rom. 9:20-24). What grace!
Just as a cup can hold grape juice, we can also contain God. However, since the cup is a dead vessel, the grape juice cannot transform the cup nor mix with it. However, as living vessels of God, we contain the living God with the living Spirit and life. Thus, we can be mingled with Him.
Thanks be to God that, one day, we were saved, God entered us, and as soon as He entered us, fellowship was established between Him and us, and between us and Him (1 John 1:3). Once the fellowship is established, transformation begins (2 Cor. 3:18).
I believe we all have this kind of experience. The moment we were saved, God entered us, and from that point on, He intervenes in everything in our daily life: in our speaking, doing, intentions, thoughts, and motives. The One who is in us is alive. Once He lives in us, He bothers us and has fellowship with us all the time, producing an effect within us. The more intense this effect is, the more we will be transformed inwardly.
This transformation happens, first, in our spirit and then, gradually, reaches our mind (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23). When this occurs, our mind begins to have the element of God. Gradually, this transformation reaches our emotions, and consequently, we can no longer be as free as we were before in expressing our joy, anger, pain, and pleasure.
We can no longer be free to love whatever we want. When we want to love someone or something with our love, the One who is in us holds us back and does not allow us to love. Before, we loved and lost patience as we pleased, but now it is no longer fitting for us to do these things. When we are about to love someone or lose patience, the One who is in us holds us back and bothers us, leading us to have no peace.
Before, our ideas, decisions, choices, and preferences were our own. However, after God mingled with us, everything is different, and we are no longer as free. This happens because the element of God has been added to us.
In the past, once we had a certain idea or formed an opinion, no one could change us. Now it is different. When we are about to express our idea, He gives us an inner touch. When we have a formed opinion, He mingles with us. While we pray, deep inside, we ask: “Does God want me to do this? Will He be happy with this?”
Thus, we have the element of God and the taste of God in our ideas because He has mingled with us. This mingling is conforming. The more we are mingled, the more we have the image of the Son of God. Many among us have a certain taste of the Son of God in their experiences. This happens because God continually mingles with them to conform them to the image of His Son.
_______________
¹ "Adoption of sons" is an incorrect expression, since we are not adopted, but born again, that is, we are begotten by God as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
Enjoy more: Hymn 342
No comments:
Post a Comment