Adendum: God's Intended Purpose in Predestination

Since my last posting, I consulted a theological friend of mine. He helped me understand a bit more about Romans 8:28-30: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." The predestining here is for believers to become like Christ--to have Christ send his Spirit upon them and work in them the process of sanctification.

The more I interact with and hear from the high school students I teach, the more I come to realize how desperately we who call ourselves Christians need to understand this idea of being changed into the likeness of Christ (sanctification). I recently finished grading an assignment by one of my students, and in her personal response she asked "Can't the gospel message just be 'Jesus has saved me to be with him in heaven.'? Can't that be the message we bring to the world?"

Yes, it can. But, oh, how that falls short of God's desire for us. (I intentionally use the word "desire" for it is something God craves and wants like a child for ice cream on a hot summer's day.) How very little it is for us to want heaven. As C.S. Lewis once wrote "It is not that we humans desire too much," (insert "streets of gold and life eternal" if you will) "it is that we settle for too little." What does Jesus want for us (not from us)? To be shaped, conformed, molded, seared, carved, broken and rebuilt into his likeness.

Christ did not come to this world to die on the cross simply that I might go to heaven when I die and at the resurrection receive my glorified body. No, Christ came to save me from myself. In Romans 7 Paul says "I find in myself this: that my sinful nature is at work and likes to do what it wants to do." That's me! If I am to be honest, I don't like it when Jesus says "Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you." I want my enemies to receive due justice and penalty, and if it can be with my hands, so much the better. I want to be like the Pharisee, strutting my self-righteous spirit all over and pointing out flaws in other people.

But that is not the spirit that Christ had; that is not the life he lived, though he had every right to do it. No, Christ was a compassionate servant who was obedient, "even to death on a cross." If I don't get help from Christ, I will never live up to the commands he has given to me as His follower.

And so it is that God has predestined His followers to be shaped into the likeness of Christ. Not so that we might be saved, but that here--in this lifetime, among these people, on this earth that is our true home and final destination--we would begin to live like Christ, through the power of the Spirit. Oh, the glorious riches and blessings that we might bring to this cruel world if only we would realize the true calling God has for his children.

Grace and peace to you from God above. Amen!