Conformed to his image
The goal of it all
Paul names the destination toward which God is steering everything in a believer's life: those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. This is the goal of it all — not merely that we would be forgiven, not merely that we would go to heaven, but that we would be made like Jesus, his image formed in us until we share his very character.
This is the thread that has run beneath the whole journey, and now it steps fully into the light. The death of self in the last stage was never an end in itself; it cleared the ground so that this could happen — Christ's likeness taking shape where the old self used to rule. Everything God has been doing, including the hard things, has been aimed at this single outcome: that you would become like his Son.
And the promise is staggering in its scope. We are made partakers of the divine nature, Peter says — not that we become God, but that the very character of Christ becomes ours, his love and humility and holiness reproduced in us by the Spirit. This is what God has determined to accomplish, and what he will not abandon. The goal of your life, in God's design, is nothing less than this: Christ formed in you, his image restored in the one made to bear it.
“Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
— Paul, to the church at Rome — Romans 8:29 (WEB)
Live toward God's actual goal for you — not merely forgiveness, but being conformed to the image of his Son, Christ's character formed in you.
“That through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
We settle for a small understanding of God's work in us — forgiveness, heaven, slightly better behavior — and miss that he has determined to conform us to the image of his Son. The interior work is to lift the horizon to God's true goal, recognizing that the death of self cleared ground for this and every trial aims at it, so we live toward the transformation into Christ's likeness rather than stopping at forgiveness.
This week, hold God's goal before you: in each situation, ask not only what would keep me out of trouble but what would make me more like Jesus, and cooperate with the conforming work God is doing.
Comfort is content with a small salvation — sins forgiven, heaven secured, behavior tidied — and would rather you settle there than be remade, because real transformation costs more than mere relief. But God set the horizon at the likeness of his Son, and the soul that lifts its eyes to that goal is being conformed to Christ in the very places a smaller hope would have left untouched.
We often settle for a small understanding of what God is doing in us — forgiving our sins, securing our place in heaven, helping us behave a bit better. Paul lifts the horizon: the goal is that we would be conformed to the image of his Son, made like Jesus in our very character. That, and nothing less, is what God has determined to accomplish.
This reframes everything, including the hard things. The death of self that cost so much was clearing ground for this; every trial and discipline has been aimed at this one outcome — Christ's likeness formed in us. We are being made partakers of the divine nature, the character of Christ reproduced in us by the Spirit. Are you living toward the goal God actually has for you — not just to be forgiven, but to be transformed into the likeness of his Son?
- Have I settled for a small understanding of what God is doing in me?
- Can I see that everything, even the hard things, aims at Christ formed in me?
- Am I living toward transformation, or only toward forgiveness?
Lord, I settle for forgiveness and heaven and miss your real goal: to conform me to the image of your Son. Lift my horizon. Make me a partaker of the divine nature, Christ's very character formed in me, and let everything serve that end. Amen.