Pursuing Our Destiny

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29, ESV).

I’m grateful that Bill Welte has invited me to be a regular contributor to Freedom Fighters, and I look forward to writing a weekly devotion.  Many of us have benefited from this email ministry through the years; I pray that my contributions will add to that benefit.

It is my opinion that much of the American church still hasn’t figured out how to help Christians see Christ formed in their lives.  Too many of us still think we’re OK if we’re faithful in church and don’t do any of the “big” sins, even though we can’t even agree on what the “big” sins are.

The verse above, over the last two or three years, has become the defining parameter of my life and ministry.  It allows me to know definitively what God wants for me, even though I may not know all the ways He will use to fulfill His desire for me.  It also allows me to know what God wants for all of you who read the Freedom Fighter emails.  I can’t know every detail of how God wants to work in your lives, but I do know what He wants to see happen in your life.  He wants you to be conformed to the image of His Son!

How does that happen?  How do people like us, with all our brokenness, begin to look like Jesus?  How do we begin to think like Jesus?  How do we become the people in whom our friends and acquaintances can see Jesus?  It has to be more than what we look like on the outside.  Rather, it’s a transformation of our hearts and minds in ways that change us from the inside out.  The Spirit of God does His work, and the result of that work is that we are continually being conformed to the image of His Son.

For the next several weeks, I invite you to join me in thinking about the tools God gives us to pursue our destiny—Christlikeness.  In cooperation with God’s Spirit, what steps should we take, what practices should we build into our lives that will help us pursue our God-ordained destiny?   I intend to share several different practices that Christians have, for centuries, built into their lives as they pursue being like Jesus.  By God’s grace, we can choose to “practice the practices” as we pursue our destiny.

So, the question for all of us in this piece is simple: do we want to pursue our God-ordained destiny?  Join me in thinking and praying about the answer to that question during the coming week. — Pastor John D. Strain recently retired as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Toms River. He will be blogging on Wednesday’s for Freedom Fighter

Daily Bible Reading: Numbers 29 – 31; Matthew 3

Quote of the day: Real Christianity is a matter of possession. And this possession is a two-way street. The Christian possesses Christ, and the Christian is possessed by Christ. Richard C. Halverson

Bible Memory: “In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.” Psalm 119:88