Your Destiny: Become Like Jesus Oct - 22

As you look toward your Decade of Destiny, it's important to remember that, from the beginning, God's plan has been to make you like his Son, Jesus. This is your destiny. God announced this intention at Creation: "Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image and likeness.'" (Genesis 1:26 NCV)

In all of creation, only human beings, are made "in God's image." This is a great privilege and gives us dignity. We don't know all this phrase covers, but we do know some of the aspects it includes -

We are spiritual beings - our spirits are immortal and will outlast our earthly bodies; we are intellectual - we can think, reason, and solve problems; we are relational - we can give and receive real love; and we have a moral consciousness - we can discern right from wrong, which makes us accountable to God.

But the image is incomplete and has been damaged and distorted by sin. So God sent Jesus on a mission to restore the full image that we have lost. What does the full "image and likeness" of God look like? It looks like Jesus Christ! The Bible says Jesus is "the exact likeness of God," "the visible image of the invisible God," and "the exact representation of his being." (2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT; Colossians 1:15 NLT; Hebrews 1:3 NIV)

I think the concept about being unique and having similar attributes with one another is identical to the concept of the trinity. While having the same image of God given to each and everyone of us, we're all completely different; we're all made for different purposes. I love how the devotion said that it gives us dignity, as there is no better way for ourselves to feel confident, while serving God. He uses EVERYONE, from poor to rich, no matter what circumstance you're living under. We were pre-destined to be born into a Christian environment, and especially being on praise team, doesn't God expect more from us? But we have to remember that God would never stretch our cup so far that we wouldn't be able to fulfill the tasks that are to be fulfilled.

I feel that something that we should always keep in mind is that us human beings are the only ones that God has created in His image, and that we should be very thankful and overjoyed at this blessing He has given us. He gave each and every one of us different gifts to glorify Him, and we all should learn to use our strengths to please Him. But the hard part about this is actually living out your life to your full potential, to live for God, and not of the earthly things that are so very tempting. Becoming more like Jesus is what we should always work on and strive for, because that is our purpose of living.
And although at times it may be very hard to do what is right and follow the right paths in life, always remember that God is there and forever will be there to help you and lead you in the right direction. All you have to do is let Him into your life, and the rest will be in His hands. 

When the time comes for your destiny, it is important to keep living a godly life.
God has given us freedom to make our own decisions, so make the right ones. We want to live a life according to God and not for our own desires. Humans were made so unique and special, we were made by his own image and came to life through his own breath.
Humans have the ability to sin, love, etc. So choose what you will put into your life and personality.

I heard this in a YouTube video a while ago: The Gospel in Four Minutes (I highly recomend for you guys to watch this)
"Made so uniquely that angels looked curiously..."
~Audrey~

Everyone is made differently and its a good thing too!
If all of us were the same or had the same thoughts and same mind, how dull would the world be. Because everyone thinks alike, we would never grow.
But because we are all different and unique we can criticize others and help others grow within the community. Because we are different, we can help each other out and correct each others flaw. It is really hard to point out your own flaws unless someone tells you them because its just hard to realize them yourself. This is just like peer editing your own work, it is really difficult to edit your work really well by yourself because it is YOUR work. But a peer can edit it easily because he/she does not think like you.

I am constantly reminded of the fact that putting ourselves down is also insulting God in a way, as we are degrading our image, which has been made in likeness to God's. I'm amazed by the fact that everyone has different faces and backgrounds and yet, God says that he loves each and every one of us, and that we were ALL made in his likeness.

The basic step for all Christians, I think, is to be more like Jesus, as he is basically the human version of God.
So, that should be our lifelong goal. Jesus has already helped us immeasurably by dying on the cross for us, for the "distortion of sins" in us to be banished.

1 Corinthians 15:47-49
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[a] bear the image of the heavenly man

How many times have we looked in the mirror and were not happy with what we saw? We seem to scrutinize ourselves for everything that makes us, us. We point out the things we don't like about ourselves, whether that's in the form of physical features, capabilities, etc., and belittle ourselves. We focus on all these factors (most of the time superficial), and forget who we are the living embodiment of. We're fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image, God chose us to be a reflection of His image.
We're all God's masterpieces made beautifully unique, each in our own individual way:

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14

God makes no mistakes, we're made a certain way for a reason. This is something to remember the next time we want to demean ourselves for whatever we don't like about ourselves.
When we remember that God created us in His image, we have this sense of fulfillment knowing that we have this prestige God gave us. Our confidence and self-assurance should come from God, and it can be done by knowing that we're uniquely made in His image.
Furthermore, the ultimate image of God is Jesus Christ, and we should try to strive and pursue this image daily. Wherever we go, we represent God, and we should show the world how wonderfully great our God is, wherever we may be.

It's interesting how, like James said, we can all have the same destiny to become like Jesus and yet have different destinies in the specifics of how we fulfill that destiny.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV)
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

However, I think that none of us, based on our own strength can fully become like Christ. Instead we come together, each with our own gifts and skills. This made me think of the phrase, "the body of Christ".

1 Corinthians 12:12 (and beyond to verse 31 is all relevant)
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

This chapter gives the metaphor of separate body parts coming together, all needing one another to function in the best possible way. Becoming like Christ isn't just something that we each do on our own. While an ear needs to be able to hear clearly and an eye needs to see clearly and therefore should work their hardest to maximize the use of their abilities, the eye or the ear alone can't do anything.

So I guess what i'm trying to say is that not only do we need to do our own part well, we also need to learn how to come together and work together as one unified body, each part valuable and necessary to our cause.

I guess something to note is that God originally made us in his own image, and we have trailed off that image over time with sin.

Needless to say, now the state of humanity sorta looks like we're not in God's image but in some sort of mutation. That being said, if God originally made something in some way and we changed it, we should do our best to change it back. It's sorta like Jesus is a babysitter, and God is the parents as we are the children. What we did was crack the vase and then Jesus came and says "Guys, you need to fix it like this..." and fixes it, and we break it again.

This time, without Jesus to help us.

So this time, we have to take independent action to change the state of humanity back to how God originally INTENDED it to be like. That being said, it's just a motive that fuels one to follow the whole what would Jesus do motto. I think we often take that saying too lightly and this should serve to make us remember it and take it more seriously.