And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

1 Corinthians 15:49 (NIV)

We believers are being conformed to the image of Jesus. This means far more than having our behavior conformed to the image of Jesus’ behavior. It means having all that we are conformed to all that he is. He is changing the inside of us. He is making us like him in every way. He is drawing us as close to the Father as he is. He is making us as full of mercy as he is. He is changing our thoughts and motivations, not just our actions.

This may seem obvious, but it is surprising to me how many times sermons are preached that assume God wants us to do things differently, not be different. Or the prevailing idea that in light of what Jesus has done for us, we should do this or that. As if Jesus’ main goal in our lives is to have us hold up our end of the bargain. Which would be fine, if this were the case. But the truth is, such thinking is still stuck within a Law-based mindset in which we are still trying to earn what Jesus already paid for. Which, by the way, is one of the many things Jesus is in the process of transforming in us. He is delivering us from any thought or motivation that suggests His work was not enough and therefore we are deficient in some way and must make up the difference through good behavior.

Others are under the impression we are being conformed to the image of Jesus only as far as his material blessings are concerned. We believe Jesus went to the Cross to deliver us from sickness and disease and poverty, only. I personally believe he went to the Cross for these things, along with every other effect of sin. But if we stop there, we will be puzzled when God begins to go after deeper things in us. We won’t understand why He doesn’t just deliver us from the circumstance as if that were His main objective. It is not that Jesus does not delight in delivering us from difficult circumstances. But the gold He is after runs far deeper and is far more precious than any favorable circumstance.

But what is the endgame here? What image are we being conformed to? It is the image of Jesus, of course. But who is He exactly? Is he nothing more than Someone who is well-behaved and very nice in every situation? Again, is the goal nothing more than perfect behavior? No, the goal is perfect humanity. Jesus is delivering us from everything in this life that has distorted and compromised what it means to be fully human. He is restoring in us all we were created to be and are destined to be.

And he is doing so by honoring our humanity in the process. Some of our prayers to be delivered from circumstances are really prayers to be delivered from our humanity. We are asking not to feel the pain of loss, for example, when our true path through loss is to allow ourselves to feel the pain of it. He delivers us through grief, not out of it. God does as he pleases, of course. But our paths of deliverance often follow the lines that preserve and perfect our humanity. For to be like Him is to be fully human.