Session 3 - Growing to Be Like Christ

Who are we? What are we really like? How do other people see us? How does God see us? These questions of self-identity sometimes never get answered. People go through their entire lives trying to discover who they are, and why they are here on planet earth. What is the purpose for their existence? To know ourselves, this is one of the great challenges we face in life. The Bible tells us that God knows everything about us. We have no secrets from God. He sees us for who we truly are, and he loves us with an everlasting love. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ dies for us” (Romans 5:8). God knows who we are, and he has great plans for our futures. While we were busy ignoring him in life, he was working out his plan for us. He sees value in our existence, and wants to spend eternity with us. Since God has such a high view of us, it would be nice to see ourselves as God sees us. The true meaning of self-love is to see ourselves through God’s eyes.
It is difficult for us to see all our weaknesses and imperfections and understand why God loves us so much. It may be strange to us, but God sees us as perfect and blameless. Why is this? It is because God sees us through Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the debt for all our sin, and now we are completely forgiven in him. As the great love passage of Scripture 1 Corinthians 13 states, “Love never fails.” God’s love for us will last for eternity. He will always see us as the children he loves with an undying love. Because Jesus brought us forgiveness, God can be in our presence and not judge us. God, the Father, is our constant companion in life. His thoughts and character are continually revealed to us. As we walk in the light of his presence, we are transformed into his likeness. We become imitators of his grace and kindness to others. Like him, we love others and do good things for them. We start to think as he does. As we get to know him better, we become better people. In fact, the more time we spend with him the more we reflect his love to others. The Apostle John wrote, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son (Jesus) into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11). When we see ourselves as God sees us, we can then see how God loves others. We need to see ourselves as God sees us, so that we can see others as God sees them. When we have this understanding, we treat others with love. These acts of love transform who we are and we become like Christ, for the grace that changes others flows through us. The more we love others the more we become like Jesus. He loved others so much that we was willing to die for them. How far does our love for others go? What sacrifices are we willing to make so that others can have a better life? Are we willing to become like Christ, and give our lives for others? Or, will we spend our lives totally on ourselves? What are you willing to do for others? We are given God’s love to pass on to others. Love is never meant to be possessed, but to be freely given away. Love is God’s gift that is in our hands to give away to someone else.