Conformed to Christ

Posted : 26 Oct, 2010 05:28 PM

God is concerned with your needs, your desires, and your happiness. He�s also concerned with the jobs that you take, the place that you live, and the people you live with. But none of these are the ultimate will for your life. None of them constitute His final goal for you. None of them are the perfect will and ultimate thing in your life. God�s ultimate will for your life is this: for you to be conformed to the image of His Son.



God is not as concerned with location, education, or any other material thing as He is in making you more like Jesus. To God, it is not a question of singleness or marriage, of secular or Christian employment, of living on Main Street, USA or in Nairobi, Kenya � it is a question of forming you into the image of His Son. Your heavenly Father is interested in having you understand that His purpose for your life is to make you more like Jesus. Are you allowing God to use your singleness to make you more like Jesus, or is all your energy going into trying to escape the very situation in which fate has placed you? That is the question you must answer. That is the issue you must resolve. Who will be Lord of your life? Will it be self, a marriage partner, other activities or will it be Jesus Christ? Which do you love more?



Many singles battle against the dealings of God in their life. They see the pain of never having married, of being widowed or divorced as some horrible curse placed upon them, limiting them from truly living a full and happy life. �If only he hadn�t walked out on me. If only I were married. If only that relationship had lasted. If only my spouse hadn�t died on me. Then I�d be a stronger person in God.� They see their experiences as obstacles, when they really should be seeing them as stepping stones, purifying agents designed to strengthen them and make them more like Jesus. So, God uses the good things and BAD things to mold us into the vessels He has purposed like �trees planted by rivers of waters that bear fruit in its season (Psalms 1). He wants us to bear much fruit, then He is glorified (John 15).



Perhaps you are a single parent. It is not an easy thing to raise children by yourself. But, if you will allow Him to, God wants to use the stress and stretching of single parenting to make you more like Jesus. Perhaps you are divorced, with no children. Being alone after such a painful experience is a big adjustment. You have a lot of difficult emotions with which to deal. Many times, as a Christian, you can not find other Christians who know how to respond to your situation. Individuals in the church have a long way to go in learning how to minister to the divorced. Yet at the same time, a �poor me� stance that closes you off from allowing God to use this experience to make you more like Him is not good either.



In Jesus Christ you have a Friend, Scripture says, that will stick closer than a brother. In Jesus Christ you have One that is �acquainted with grief.� In Jesus Christ you have One who has experienced rejection and betrayal by those He loved. In Jesus Christ you have the healing and power to overcome the pain and be shaped by your life into a stronger and clearer reflection of Him. God will never bring you to a place in your life where you are not dependant upon Him.



Whatever type of single person you are, your decision remains the same. You can look at all the things that are happening in your life as problems to be gotten rid of or escaped. Or you can see them as God does � a refiner�s fire, meant to strengthen and purify you, step by step, into the image of His Son.



��..to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.� (Rom. 8.29)

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