Dress Up to grow

Growth is something that we would all like to experience ourselves and see happen in those we love. No matter how lovely a baby's talk is, no mom would be happy to continue to hear the child talk without any improvement in structure and pronounciation. No matter how fascinating an year old's walk is, no pop would be delighted to continue to watch the child stumbling and faltering at every step. It is the same with God about his sons. He wants us to grow by bounds and measures --a figure each day, a form every hour.

Paul writes to Corinthians in I Cor.13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me". How does a child grow? A boy keenly observes his father's actions, speech & mannerisms, and tries to imitate him. He tries to copy, duplicate or reproduce the style that his father exhibits, and in the process he grows to be like him. Which is why, we often see the traits of the father in a son. You must have heard people say 'Like Father, Like Son'.

It is the same with the Sons of God. God calls us to learn his ways and imitate him. Jesus cried to the God in Heaven from Gethsamane, calling him "Father". Earlier, he had taught the Sons of men (who would grow to be Sons of God) the Lord's Prayer, teaching them to pray to God calling him 'Our Father in Heaven'. Jesus who said 'Iam the Light of the world'(John 9:5), also told the people who followed him "You are the light of the world (Mat.5:14)". He spoke of his followers as 'not of the world' even as He himself was 'not of the world' (John 17:16). We are called to become like our Father.

Paul instructs us to imitate God. He beseeches us to imitate his attitudes and actions -- his sacrificial love, his humility, his forgiveness, his response to suffering and his faith. We see in Him:

sacrificial love [he came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mat 20:28)];

Paul writes to the Ephesians, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.." (Eph 5:1,2) He tells the church at Philipi "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Phil 2:4)

humility [the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Mat 20:28)];

Paul challenges the Phillipians to have the same mind as Christ and "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." (Phil 2:2,3).

forgiveness [Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luk 23:34)];

Paul sets himself as example in the matter of forgiving others. "We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly...I urge you to imitate me".(I Cor 4:16-17)

calm response to suffering [yet not my will, but yours be done (Luk 22:42)] and

Paul commends the Thessolonians, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (I Thes 1:6)

faith in His father [into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luk 23:46)]

Finally, Paul exhorts the Hebrew church "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Heb 13:7)

While we imitate Him, we are growing. While imitating him, we will realize that we are just sons of men who have been asked to imitate the Son of God, so that we are transformed to his likeness. We will come to know our limitations and confines, and learn to depend on His grace. We will then understand that we are not there yet, but we are on our way towards his perfection and need his grace every step of that way. This is the path the Lord has set before us to make us Sons of God. C.S.Lewis calls this process "dressing up as Christ". Let us allow our good Lord to dress each of us as a "Little Christ", for that is the divine purpose to which we have been called.