“My brothers and sisters in
Christ, boast and rejoice when you are surrounded by trials,
afflictions and hardships, knowing these pressures of life, which
test your faith in God, produce God’s patience. And God’s
patience produces Godly character and Godly character produces hope
in God. And God’s hope graces us, because the love of God is
lavishly poured to overflowing in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who
was given to us. So let God’s patience completely finish its
objective, that you will be perfect... spiritually mature, completely
whole in mind, body and spirit, never wanting anything.” (Rom.
5:3-5 sandwiched into James 1:2-4, John’s Translation)
These
passages carry the same context and word usage, and develop one of
the Apostle Paul’s favorite themes, the saint’s conformation...
transformation, into the nature of Christ. Notice the progression
produced by the Pressures of Life: *Patience, *Godly Character,
*Hope, *Love. Godly Character is the character, virtues, values, and
attitude of our Lord, His nature living in us as our nature. Jesus
commanded His disciples, “You shall be perfect”, speaking of a
progressive process of transformation that would grow them into
perfection… complete maturity… godliness, “Just as your Father
in heaven is perfect.” Jesus set the standard of our “perfection”
– Christlikeness, and Paul defined the process – the pressures of
life.
Jesus
said “Narrow
is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life”, Paul
said we would have need of endurance, and James, the brother of Jesus
said to “Count it all joy” when we encounter life changing
trials and tests of faith. And yes these “difficulties” will
produce a great need for patient endurance.
Submission
to the Lordship of Christ and death to Self, our carnal fleshly
nature, are the instruments of this heart surgery, our life in this
world is the operating room. Our transformation is the number one
item on God’s agenda, and He will not relent until the nature of
Christ is formed in us… For we are “predestined
to be conformed (IE., transformed) to the image (IE., nature) of His
Son, that He (IE., Christ) might be the firstborn among many
brethren.”
“AND
DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD,
BUT
BE TRANSFORMED
BY
THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND.”
(Matt.
5:48, 7:14; Rom. 8:29, 5:3-5, 12:2; James 1:2-4; Heb. 10:6)
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