Pursuing Christlikeness
Pusuing Christlikeness : The Goal of Our Christian Life
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross.
Philippians 2 : 5 – 8
What is the goal of your Christian life ?
Is it to be successful in your chosen careerand have a beautiful family life ?
When I was younger in the faith,I was also striving for earthly things. Many professing Christians are striving for earthly things. Many tirelessly strive for career promotions, for beautiful family, for elegant houses and cars, for fat bank account.If Christians pursue tirelessly for these things, then they have no distinction from the rest of the worldly people.
There must be one goal for our Christian life and that is to pursue for Christlikeness. Christ’s virtues and character must be reproduced in a Christian in order to have successful Christian life. As Christians,we all must pursue for Christlikenessparticularly His servanthood and humility.
“… but made himself nothing , taking the very nature of a servant.”
From being the Creator of the Universe, Christ took the form of a creature. From being the Lord of Glory, Christ stripped Himself of all His majestyand took the form of a lowly carpenter.When Christ chose to be a man, He did not chose to be a king of an earthly kingdom although He is the King of kings. He had chosen just to be a simple man, a lowly carpenter.He had chosen just a simple career for Himselfwithout any grandeuror any worldly recognition or title. It is a great rebuke for all of us who always seek great things for ourselves. We always desire the best for us, the best position, the best espouse, the best place of residence. Jesus chose Nazareth to be a place of His residence on earth, a place which has no good reputation at that time.
The Servanthood of Christ
Christ took the form of a servant. The Greek word used for servant her could be translated as “slave”. What is the meaning of being a slave ? A slave has no rights of his own even the right to live. Christ stripped Himself off of His rights and became a bond slave for us. He suffered the most horrible and shameful death for us, the “death on the cross”. During that period of Roman Empire, death by crucifixion is the capital punishment and it was given to the worst of criminals. Christ was numbered among the worst of criminals when He chose to die on the cross. He had borne a very great shame for all of us.Christ’s servanthoodled led Him to lose all His honor and dignity to give us the best gift of all, the gift of “eternal life.”
As Christians, we must all imitate the humility and servanthood of Christ. This is the core of christlikeness. But sad to say in our time professing Christians have become success-oriented. They tirelessly seek for greatness and glory in their chosenfields. They are constantly striving to reach the pinnacle of worldly success.
As Christians just like h Christ we must become kingdom-centered people pursuing tirelessly for the fulfillment of God’s will in our lives more than success in our careers.We must strive hard to pursue the humility and servanthood of Christ. Just like Christ we must live like servants. Servants to God and to our fellowmen. We must serve tirelessly to bring the knowledge and presence of the Kingdom of God to the heathen world.
It is just right to serve Christ with all of our heartsfor He first served us.For without the servanthood of Christ, we will have no salvation.Let us put out all our selfish ambitions and selfish agendaand pursue tirelessly for christlikeness. For this is the one that brings significance and didtinctionto our Christianity.
