Christlikeness (1)
In Galatians 4v19 the Apostle Paul wrote “_My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you_…” Paul’s vision for disciples was that Christ should be formed in them.
The Greek word used for “_formed_” comes from the word “_morphe_”. When something(one) is morphed they are gradually changed from one image to another. These days you can have great fun with software that enables you to change almost anything into anything else: an ape into a bird, an older person into a baby, Mrs Potts into a teapot and back again!
God is at work in us to morph us, change us, transform us into the image of Christ – to have Christ’s image formed in us. This is a long and difficult transformation with many advances and set-backs, but God is at work in us to will and to do according to his good purpose of making us like Jesus. It is also a very exciting adventure in which God’s living, loving, gentle power is at work in your life today and everyday!
I’m going to use these 11ish devotionals (Monday and Friday) to think about the character of Jesus and how that beautiful character can be formed in us.
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me
All his wondrous compassion and purity
Oh Thou Spirit Divine
All my nature refine
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.
Love from Paul
Christlikeness (2) – “None of self and all of Thee”
These devotionals are based on Galatians 4v19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…” This is the Apostle Paul’s vision for disciples: that Christ should be formed in them.
This is surely the desire and prayer of every follower of Jesus. Sometimes the desire is stronger than at other times, but it is always there: “I want to be like Jesus!” We want his spirit, his heart, his nature, his mind, his attitude, his outlook, his thoughts formed in us.
This is an ongoing process, a lifelong formation. We so often fail, but the following hymn, written in 1874 by Theodore Monod, a Frenchman, will help us be more like Jesus. The hymn tells of a journey that we must make out of wanting ourselves to be everything into desiring that Jesus would be everything in us.
O the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be,
When I let the Savior’s pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered,
All of self, and none of Thee!
Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on th’accursèd tree,
Heard Him pray, Forgive them, Father!
And my wistful heart said faintly,
Some of self, and some of Thee!
Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and ah! so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered,
Less of self, and more of Thee!
Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered:
Grant me now my supplication,
None of self, and all of Thee!
From answering “all of self and none of Thee” to desiring and praying “None of self and all of Thee”. What a journey! A journey out of wanting myself to be everything and into desiring Jesus would be everything in me. Most of us will feel that we have only just begun, and that we trip and fall from verse 2 to verse 1. But be encouraged that God works in you to bring about this desire for Christlkeness and to move us to make the supplication of v4.
And the secret? It’s as verse 4 states – be conquered by the love of Christ.
Love from Paul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH4K-XMJv04