Lesson 4: Created for a Purpose (2)
Read Romans 12:21 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/rom.12

The third "will of God" is to be "conformed to the image of his Son." This means He wants us to change until we look like Jesus. Have you ever noticed how couples who have been married for a long time start to look like each other? This is what we're supposed to do; be so close, so familiar, so intimate with Jesus that we begin to look like Him. Such intimacy and familiarity is achieved as we are filled with the Spirit – we give God’s Spirit complete control of our life every moment of every day, hearing Him and obeying Him immediately in all things.

Romans 12:2 tells us we are to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds." Some kinds of transformation can become very scary in our world as we watch our cultures being transformed into something we don't recognize.

Transformation for the Christian, however, is not a scary prospect because we know who and what Jesus is. We don't have to be afraid of becoming like Him. In fact, we look forward to it because for eternity "we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). Ephesians 5:27 describes in a different way what we will be when we are like Him: “…so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."


Philippians 2 says: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." This kind of change is impossible for us to achieve, but it is God’s purpose for us through His Spirit and requires only our willing choice to give God permission to make it true in us.

*Think back on your life 6 months or a year ago. How are you different today because you have allowed the Holy Spirit to make you more like Jesus?
*How does this encourage you?