The Real Me… Growing Up and Into The Image of God!

Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. 

WHO is the REAL ME?  Alien? Sinner? Slave? Enemy? All of the above?

Romans 7:21-23 the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 

It’s  true! I once WAS LOST… It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. (1 Timothy 1:15)

But now… I’m FOUND!

1 Peter 2:9-10 you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

Who is the REAL ME?… Saint? Holy Temple? Chosen Race? Royal Priest?

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

A NEW creature! I was only just getting a handle on the old junk in my trunk! I knew (and loved) this sinner for my predictability, my spontaneity, my lack of obsessive perfection. Quite frankly, as long as I was handling my own “destiny”, I posed no threat to those who feared I might compete with their settled doctrines of life.

Though I don’t much like the label “sinner”, I do not know what other label describes the difference between Old Mary and the New Mary.  When I became a Jesus Freak, I did indeed choose to… lay aside the old self with its evil practices, and put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created Mary… (Colossians 3:9-11)

I did indeed choose Jesus but beholding new things coming???Sometimes I see in a mirror dimly…

I confess, whenever I read the word “new”, I actually picture a “revised” version. A version that I recognize as ME. A version that I insist upon retaining copyright authority over. A version I insist must not stray TOO FAR from the stunning original! A version that I and others demand an immediate, perfect, and complete representation of the final new Mary creature… when in fact…

This NEW creature is one I have never seen before. A creature I have no idea how to create and one which I will not see fully and complete until we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

Until then we are growing… always growing… into the REAL ME!

What starts with our choice, Romans 10:8-10  “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Causes a new life to be triggered,John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Triggered! As in BABY! As in helpless! As in need of… EVERYTHING!

Here’s the part I want desperately to get! Here’s the part I desperately want all of us to get!

Babies don’t raise babies! Abba raises babies!

You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15

If I am to Grow into the REAL ME, I need to be raised and cared for by The REAL ABBA!

I need to STOP re-raising my sinner self and BECOME, from cradle to grave to resurrection, Abba’s Love Child!

But the basic nature of a child is to take control of the world they wish to have, from the very first words we speak, “NO! I DO IT MYSELF!”.

Whether we are examining ourselves or others, we seek immediate gratification for our soul which tends to see as Eve saw…the tree is good for food, and that it is a delight to the eyes, and that it is desirable to make one wise (Genesis 3:4)… having “examined it thoroughly”, we do as she did, we take and eat of it,  as well as share it with Adam so we won’t be the only one in trouble when caught doing the wrong thing.

The basic nature of God is reconciliation… 2 Corinthians 5:17-19…God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 

Reconciliation that completely changes us…

Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 

Reconciliation that takes possession and creates the REAL ME. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

The REAL ME (and you, and you, and you) which was made in the Image of God is growing into the Image of God, and will become the spitting Image of God!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.