09/19/2013
What does it mean to become like Christ?
It doesn't mean as becoming God or even a god, but to grow spiritually and transforming our character into Christlikeness. Like God, we are spiritual beings-our spirits are immortal and will outlast our earthly bodies; we are intellectual-we can think, reason, and solve problems; like God, we are relationship-we can give and receive real love; and we have a moral consciousness-we can discern right from wrong, which makes us accountable to God. Spiritual growth is a collaborative effort between you and the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit works with us, not just in us.
Your first step in spiritual growth is to start changing the way you think. Because the way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act. Many of our troubles occur because we base our choices on unreliable authorities: culture, tradition, reason, or emotion. These are all flawed by the Fall. Only God’ Word is the perfect standard that will never lead us in the wrong direction.
There are five ways to assimilate the truth of God’s Word: receive God’s Word with an open, receptive attitude, read the Word to keep in range of God’s voice, research the Word by asking questions and writing down your insights, remember God’s Word to resist temptation and make wise decisions, and reflect on the Word by focusing your thinking by taking time to contemplate it’s truth. This is important to do because God will use circumstances to make us more like Jesus.
Your most profound and intimate experiences or worship will likely be in your darkest days—when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great—and you turn to God alone. God is sovereignly in control, accidents are just incidents in God’s good plan for you…Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance.
(Taken from Rick Warren "Purpose Driven Life")
