Conformed To The Image Of His Son

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:29

I know I’m a few chapters off and that Romans 8 was our topic of study several weeks back, but our discussion during the Bible study last week turned to thoughts that are relevant to the above verse.  As we dive into the study of Romans 14 this week, we’ll find these thoughts apply as well.  Our passage above is clear regarding Who our pattern is.  Christ is the mold that every Christian is pressed into!  He is the standard by which all others are measured.  We must be sure within the church that we’re not guilty of trying to press others into our mold!

Many years ago, an older couple visited our church for several months.  It took only a service or two to realize that they had some very strict beliefs concerning the types of music and kinds of instruments used within the church.  They allowed the use of a piano, but other instruments were forbidden.  In general, they accepted older hymns, but when the song leader would pick a newer song, they would sit in silence with stern looks on their faces to show their disapproval.  For the life of me, I can’t understand why they stayed as long as they did!  Whenever they were in attendance, there was a stifling spirit of judgment and condemnation among us.  It was difficult to bear!  We would try to be congenial and minister to their souls, even politely asking how they came to the conclusions they did regarding music.  We would try to read the literature they would pass along to defend their position, and we would question and point out passages of Scripture against their beliefs in the hopes that their hearts might be softened.  But it was clear that they would never be satisfied until all of us were pressed out into THEIR image.

That attitude does not agree with the word of God.  We are all to be “conformed to the image of His Son”.  Even the apostle Paul in his great faithfulness to the Lord would not encourage the church to be imitators of him unless he was imitating Christ: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1) Christ is the pattern for us all!  The church is a diverse group of people brought together into one body in Christ.  With that diversity, we bring with us a variety of backgrounds, biases, customs, and traditions, but we can never base our fellowship with one another upon anything which the Lord does not specifically command or forbid in His word.  Our basis for fellowship and that which unites us must be our supreme love for Christ!  When we love Him above all, we will also love the brethren.  When we love Him, our end goal is described in 1 Jn 3:2: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”  When we love the brethren, we will desire the same for them–that they be like Him, not us!  Remember, we are all fellow servants.  There is only one Master.  So then, “Who are you to judge another’s servant?  To his own master he stands or falls.” (Rom 14:4)

Jamie

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