CHANGED INTO HIS LIKENESS

God calls us to something beyond ourselves; when we are saved, the Spirit of God urges us into different kinds of actions that would renew our minds, so we no longer think as we did when we were in the world. Ego is self-centred behaviour that propels us towards a materialistic view of happiness. This leads to inadequacy and misery as we relate the quality of our lives to happiness. This is the design of the world to bring us into bondage.

Virtue is the result of overcoming temptation, where we actively embrace good by rejecting evil. This requires us to understand the very nature and quality of the choices that are presented to us. Jesus, Paul, James, and others were tempted and overcame through the Holy Spirit’s power. The more powerfully the person is to be used by God, the more Satan will use his limited supply of promises to lure them into temptation, which is worldly and temporary.

Philippians 3:4: Paul explains that he had much to boast about because of his heritage, etc. He counts it all a loss for Jesus, for the overwhelming gain of knowing Him and being a son of God. He had all those things that the world looks for money, authority, prestige, but when he saw Jesus, his ambitions all changed. Hebrews 12:1-2. Let us lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily entangles us. John 12:23 – He that loves his life shall lose it.

Like Paul, let us long to share Jesus’ sufferings and continue to press on toward our Godly purpose, leaving the past behind; let us fear God, serve and glorify Him by spreading the Gospel to every nation.