Become Who God Created You To Be In Christ

Is your family like mine? Even though we all live relatively close to each other, it often takes a holiday to get us all together. Throughout the years, these family gatherings of shared meals around the large dining room table have invited the sharing of stories from childhood and young adult years. Revelations of escapades in high school, misplaced cars in college, and emergency room visits for stitches after a failed handstand attempt on a front porch handrail made us laugh, caused us to be slightly aghast yet amazed that some of us were still alive to tell the stories.

The days are coming when, around our table, the revelations will begin of the things our own boys have done that will make me cringe inside and pray that no one knew who they belonged to at the time.

We don’t always bear the image of our creator well, do we?

In his book “The Life You’ve always Wanted” John Ortberg opens with this statement:

I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed not so much with particular things I have done as with aspects of who I have become. I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be.

Where does this disappointment come from? A common answer in our day is that it is a lack of self-esteem, a failure to accept oneself. That may be part of the answer, but it is not the whole of it, not by a long shot. The older and wiser answer is that the feeling of disappointment is not the problem, but a reflection of a deeper problem – my failure to BE the person God had in mind when he created me.^*

How many of us, like John Ortberg, have that nagging sense that we are not all we are supposed to be?

The disciples were called to be Christ’s witness in the world. To bear his image. There is more to this Christian life than being restored as God’s image. Salvation is a very important beginning, but still, only the beginning.

The disciple John writes, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13 NIV).

It is through Jesus that we are restored into relationship with God, our creator. It is through Jesus that we learn to know God as our Father. It is through Jesus that we are adopted, and become heirs with him to the kingdom. We are his sisters and his brothers. We are FAMILY.

If Jesus is God’s son, and we are made sons and daughters of God through Jesus, then that makes us his brothers and sisters! If we are Jesus’ sisters and brothers, then shouldn’t we look like him?

We may be already clean, but that is the starting point of our Flourish journey. Not the end. If we stop there, we will have that nagging sense that all is not as it should be. We will not become the person God had in mind when he created us.

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To use a churchy phrase, being made clean (John 15:3) is the point of Justification – that point of salvation where we are justified by Christ before God – restored. Now the work of Sanctification begins.

Sanctification simply means letting God continue what he began. Transforming our hearts, our minds, our will, our actions, and our thoughts so that everything about us begins to look like Jesus to the world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will grow into looking more like Christ.

That night in the upper room the bewildered disciples had no idea what was in store for them. They did not know their lives were to bear out fruit that would change the world. They didn’t understand there was more to life than being a defaced image bearer, or even a restored image-bearer, but not quite a Christ image-bearer.

But they had these words from Jesus about vines, branches, pruning, abiding, and bearing fruit.

These words of Jesus recorded in John 15: 1-17 are the tools, the equipping, the disciples would need in order to figure it out. As they experienced the cutting out of deadwood, they wrote it down. As they experienced pruning, they wrote it down. We have their insights and lessons in what we know as the New Testament.

Most importantly, we have the same equipping from Jesus they had.

Jesus spoke the words in John 15 to men who were “already clean.” Already believers in Jesus as their Savior. These words are spoken to believers today. If you are a Christian, these words about vines, branches, pruning, abiding, and bearing fruit are for you. They are the words that show us how to – not just survive – but thrive – flourish so that our lives produce much fruit to the glory of God.

Related Posts:

The Flourish Journey Begins!

Who Is God? To You?

Take it deeper: Personal reflection and small group discussion.

Think back. What are some experiences you have had that you recognize did not reflect well on your family?

Do you have the sense that you are not who God had in mind when he created you? Journal your thoughts and revelations here.

Adoption is an important principle in the Christian life. When a child is adopted into a family, their name is changed. They become full, legal heirs, with all the rights, privileges, and honors afforded any natural born child. This is what happens when we believe in Jesus. We become full members of God’s family. Look these passages up and write them out. Write them on note cards. Memorize them. They are that important.

John 1:12 – 13

Romans 8:15-17

Galatians 3:23-29

Galatians 4:1-7

1 John 3:1

Read John 15:1-17. What does living a life that bears much fruit mean to you at this time?

*Ortberg, John. The Life You’ve Always Wanted. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997. 13