His Image

1Cor. 15:49-50. I believe one of the greatest hinderences to Christian growth is when we come to realize that He isn't who we thought He was in some way. We carried some image of Christ from our past that made us think He thought as we did, then we face the revelation that His thoughts are nothing like our thoughts, then we remember He cannot change.

If our opinions are particulary dear to us, something we have based our life on up to this point, this can be disheartening. Perhaps we invested a great deal of our life being wrong. We are now confronted with the issue of what to do next change (repent) or living in strife with the one who created us and redeemed us. We can try to bend the Truth to fit our opinion, but our conciences will continually convict us.

I had to come to the realization that Christ would never be a pacifist for me. He was as much the Lion as He was the Lamb. He will never change to become like us and He expects us to change to be like Him. It is not at all an equitable friendship, but why should it be? He purchased me as a plantation owner would purchase a slave, and He paid a great price for me.

Of course the best way to avoid this entire confrontation is to avoid the Word as much as possible. We will die a spiritual infant but look at the alternitive.