Conformity

Conformity
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

Christians today face a wide variety of difficulties, challenges and even dangers. But one of the greatest dangers we face is being deceived to rest on the pseudo comfort of popularity. Satan uses the world’s influence to tempt us to become conformed to the ways of the world. He uses those who dwell on the earth to apply the pressure that squeezes comfort out of those who stand up against the ways of the world. But conforming to the comfort of the world is accepting the penalty of separation from God.

When Paul used the idea of foreknowledge, He didn’t mean anyone is forced into a certain destination. He taught that God has already set a predetermined plan for salvation and He knows who will choose that way of life before the choice is even made. Those that make the choice to live according to His plan are being conformed into the image of His Son. This transformation allows us to find comfort letting go of earthly acquirements we once saw as valuable to “gain Christ” and “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:8, 10).

In the present state of existence, the Christian’s spirit is being transformed to be more and more like Christ: “[Christ] will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21). The body of our humble state is our present physical bodies. These corruptible, dying bodies we now live in will be changed. As Christ rose from the dead, we also shall rise from the depths of the grave, and our bodies, like His, will be alive with Him for evermore (Romans 6:1-4).

But even this wonderful prospect is not the best of it, however. Not only will our bodies be incorruptible like His, but we shall be like Him in every way. The Bible reveals the Christian’s hope to someday be with Christ in heaven and be like Him. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). We will be like Him in holiness, in love, and also in wisdom because in passing into that realm we will fully understand Him in all His glory. The Bible does not tell us exactly what we will be like, but we can know there will be change: “It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). So, in the words of God, Christians are actually predestined to be conformed to the very image of His own Son (Romans 8:29). That’s true conformity!!