When we set out on a journey, it helps to know our destination! Imagine going to the train station and climbing on the first train that comes by without any idea of where its journey will end!

Many people treat life’s journey in this way.

Some believe that life ends at death. Death snuffs them out and that’s the end, so why bother about the way they live now? Despite a witness deep inside of them to what is written in God’s Word, they deny that death is not the end but the door into another life.

Others believe that, after death, they will return in another form. From where does this notion come?

The Bible states that..

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT
[11]”…He has planted eternity in the human heart…”

If we believe that this is true, we must also believe that what we do now has great significance for us in the life to come. We cannot leave unprepared for, or to chance, so great a future life that God has prepared for us.

What can we do to ensure that we are ready for the new life in God’s eternal realm? Does the Bible give us any indication of what God is planning and how we can prepare?

Apart from one overriding requirement, to be faithful in the small, routine tasks in life, like eating and drinking, God has not given us a list of detailed instructions for us to follow. What He has given us is the goal of our lives and some of the ways in which He is working in us to reach that goal.

You see, God dare not leave anything to chance. If He were to give us a long list of do’s and dont’s, we would fail. He did that for His people in the Old Covenant, and it didn’t work. All He got was stubborn rebellion and disobedience.

His plan was always far more simple. However, since He could not trust us to be what He has planned, sons and daughters in His divine family who perfectly resemble Jesus, He undertook to carry out His plan in us, for us. The only one He can re-form us into the image of Jesus is through His Spirit in us.

However, God uses ways to re-form us that are often uncomfortable, painful, and sometimes even seem cruel. Trouble is, we can’t see the big picture, so we buck against His ways or accuse Him of being unloving or untrustworthy.

Let’s look at some of the ways in which God works to recreate us in the likeness of Jesus. There are two things we must do to facilitate His work in us.

Step one, we must recognise that the enemy is within us…our old sinful nature, and deal with it with the help of His Spirit.

Colossians 3:8-11 NLT
[8] “But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. [9] Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. [10] Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. [11] In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”

Through the Holy Spirit in us, God has given us the power to stop our sinful behaviour by following the Holy Spirit’s leading….and to put the old nature to death…

Romans 8:12-14 NLT
[12] “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. [13] For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. [14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

Step number two, we must learn to think the way God thinks by filling our minds with His Word.

John 17:17 NLT
[17]”Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”

God uses His Word in us to show us the right way when we are confronted with choices and decisions that impact His work of re-forming us into the image of Jesus.

Romans 12:2 NLT
[2]”Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
[16] “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. [17] God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

This is a kind of swimming-against-the-current way of living. Learning to do the right thing no matter what the world’s way might be, is not easy but God promises us the strength to do life His way.

How do we reflect the image of Jesus in us? By learning to trust the Father in whatever happens in our lives. Jesus had a goal, to go to the cross as a perfect sacrificial “lamb” because this was God’s will for Him. To do that, He had to trust and obey the Father implicitly. He had to be the perfect son, always living in perfect submission to the Father’s will. He focused everything He was, said, and did, towards that end.

Hebrews 10:8-10 NLT
[8] “First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). [9] Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. [10] For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.”

Isaiah 53:10 NIV
[10]”Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”

Mark 14:36 NIV
[36] “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Hebrews 5:7-9 NIV
[7]”During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his REVERENT SUBMISSION. [8] Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered [9] and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…”

The greatest training of all is learning to submit to the Lord, no matter what happens in our lives, good or bad, without resistance or protest. Again, it’s Jesus who is our model.

1 Peter 2:23-25 NIV
[23]”When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. [24] “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
[25] For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

God is able to do His work of transformation only when we rest in His love and goodness, and allow Him to shape us, through discipline, hardship, and suffering, into the same attitude as Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-7 NLT
[5]”You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. [6] Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. [7] Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form…”

When we give God the freedom to work in us, trusting Him no matter what, and submitting to His will IN ALL THINGS…

Romans 8:28-30 NIV
[28]”..We know that IN ALL THINGS, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. [29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. [30] And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

Only then can we reach God’s goal for His children TO BE LIKE HIM

1 John 3:2-3 NIV
[2]”Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see him as he is. [3] All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”