Anyone who has spent much time in the church world has probably heard that the primary goal for the Christian is to work at becoming more like Jesus. It sounds logical, doesn’t it? Sermons tend to shine from such a message with a typical backdrop of people shouting “Amen!” But seldom will you find a consistent model on exactly what it means to become more like Jesus through what we do, although most will have their preconceived ideas or assumptions. The general idea religion presents is that we gradually and progressively improve by our works and lifestyle choices. We’re told that improved morality will make us more like Christ. This approach has believers turning the gospel inside out as we work to achieve the impossible. It will benefit us to realize we’ve been born of God and have received an inheritance that has already made us like Jesus - completely righteous and holy just as He is - even while we’re in this world. These qualities we have inherited as children are gifts provided by grace, not our attempts to improve the flesh through human effort.
As Christians, we often like to describe ourselves as followers and disciples of Jesus. But is this really how we are identified in Him? Did Jesus really encourage people to follow him as a disciple or was He attempting to show that nobody could successfully accomplish this? Jesus carefully described the list of rigid requirements needed to be like Him in order to be His disciple. He cautioned those people under the law to carefully count the cost in order to help them realize they would not be able to pay the price that would be needed. Thankfully, our faithfulness to God is not what is on display, but it was God's love and dedication towards us that would be the centerpiece of the gospel.
