I see you growing to be more and more like Christ.
I was a boy when Elvis Presley became famous. My parents bought me an Elvis album after I saw him on TV. I wanted to sing like him, and play the guitar like he did. I wanted to look like him.
One day I took my Elvis album into the bathroom, and propped it up next to the mirror. There was Elvis’s picture, next to my face in the mirror. I found some hair gel, and a comb. I attempted to design my hair to look like Elvis’s hair.
Afterwards, I remember walking to my friend John’s house, feeling a lot like you-know-who. John burst my bubble when he said, “So, are you trying to look like Elvis again?”
Trying? We want to be like the people we worship.
1 John 3:2 tells me that one day, I shall be like Jesus. The apostle Paul writes, in Galatians 4:19, that I am now being formed into Christlikeness. This makes sense to me, since this is my glorious destiny.
Every disciple begins to look like their teacher. Apprentices learn to do what their teacher does. Jesus says, "whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12) That makes sense, since a disciple is in training to do the stuff their teacher has been doing.
I learned this a long time ago. I believe it more today than when I first heard it. As one of the Lord’s disciples, I get excited when I think of being like the One I have come to worship.
As I apprentice myself to Jesus, he forms himself in me; his character, his abilities.
DECLARATIONS
One day I shall be like the Lord Jesus.
Today, Christ is forming his character in me.
I am learning to love people as Jesus loves people.
Christ is training me to deliver people from darkness.
The compassion of Christ grows within me.
I want nothing more than to be like Jesus!
(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship)
