Monday, January 18, 2016

How Can Your Christ-Likeness Increase Today?



January 18, 2016
How Can Your Christ-Likeness Increase Today?   

For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Romans 8:29
We are all in one of three places: in the midst of a crisis, seeing the light at the end of a crisis, or about to enter into a new crisis. Of course, crises have varying degrees of potential adverse impact on our lives, but they all are characterized by an unexpected interruption of the normal ebb and flow of our lives. A few days ago, I lifted up the preceding and companion verse to today’s text: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28). We want to learn to rest in the truth that even in the midst of a crisis, God is working everything together for good. Today’s passage tells us the goal of God’s labor of love in our lives: that we would become like Jesus!

This is a truth that I have found very, very helpful in my life. Sometimes we may be prone to try and discern what teaching or lesson we can learn from the circumstances we encounter in life. Teachings and lessons are good, but there is something better. Let’s not allow something good to cause us to miss God’s best for our lives! God’s best is that He is forming Christ in us.

The next time you find your schedule interrupted or you find yourself in a crisis, whether large or small, pause and ask God to help you grasp how He is using the circumstance to transform your life to be just like Jesus. Take the time to process what the Spirit is revealing to you. There are lots of things that God wants us to do, but none of them trump who God wants us to be. You are the beloved child of God, with whom He is delighted, and upon whom His favor rests. How can your awareness of your Christ-likeness increase today?   

Sē’lah
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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.

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