Becoming More Like Christ

Becoming more like Christ is the desire of every believer, and it is encouraging to know that God has the same desire for us. In fact, the Bible says that God “predestined believers to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Making us Christ-like is God’s work, and He will see it through to the end (Philippians 1:6).

However, the fact that God will transform us into Christ-likeness doesn’t mean we can sit back and be carried to heaven that easy. The process demands our willing cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Becoming more Christ-like requires both divine power and the fulfillment of human responsibility.

There are three things which contribute to our being more Christ-like: our surrender to God, our freedom from sin, and our spiritual growth.

1) Becoming more Christ-like is the result of SURRENDER TO GOD. Romans 12:1-2 says that worship involves a total self-dedication to God. We volunteer our bodies as “living sacrifices,” and our minds are renewed and transformed.

When Jesus said, “Follow me,” Levi left his money tables immediately (Mark 2:14); so do we freely surrender all we have for the sake of following the Lord. As John the Baptist said, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30), so we focus more and more on Jesus and His glory, losing ourselves in His will.

2) Becoming more Christ-like is the result of FREEDOM FROM SIN. Since Jesus lived a sinless life, the more we consider ourselves “dead to sin” (Romans 6:11) and live a life of purity, the more like Jesus we will be. As we offer ourselves to God, sin is no longer our master, and we are more clearly identified with Christ (Romans 6:1-14).

Jesus invites us to follow Him, and we have His example of obedience, sacrificial love, and patient suffering. We also have the example of the apostles, who modeled Christ.

When it comes to restraining sin in our lives, we have divine help: praise the Lord for the Word of God (Psalm 119:11), the intercession of Christ (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25), and the power of the Spirit who indwells us (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16)!

3) Becoming more Christ-like is the result of SPIRITUAL GROWTH. When we are first saved, we are immature in wisdom and knowledge, and inexperienced in grace and love. But then we grow. In each of these things, our charge is to become stronger—and more Christ-like.

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else” (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

Right now, God works in us. It is important to realize that becoming more like Christ starts by receiving Him as Savior from our sins. Then we grow in our knowledge of God by reading the Bible daily, studying it, and being obedient to what it says. This process causes us to grow and occurs over an entire lifetime in Christ. Only when we have entered Heaven for eternity with God does this process reach its culmination.

Our view of the world has changed.

We are no longer citizens of the world, but apart from it (2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1).

We understand that we are a part of a heavenly, God-ruled kingdom. Things of the earth no longer draw us.

We don’t fear or over-emphasize suffering on earth or the trials we face, nor do we place importance on things the world values.

Even our bodies and our actions reflect that our minds are no longer conformed to the world, but are now instruments of righteousness to God.

And our new kingdom perspective means we understand that our enemy is not the people around us, but the spiritual forces that endeavor to keep the people from knowing God.

Ephesians 6:12 ... " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

One of the greatest blessings about our identity in Christ is the grace we’re given in order to grow into the spiritual maturity that truly reflects our new identity (Philippians 1:6).

Our lives in light of our identity in Christ are filled with a heavenly Father, a large, loving family, and the understanding that we are citizens of another kingdom and not of this earth.