To Be Like Him

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

 TO BE LIKE HIM

1 Cor 15:44-49

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

NIV

The natural and the spiritual are who we will be throughout our lives. Of course, we are currently in the appearance of the earthly man, but we are not longer citizens of this earth, for our citizenship is in the kingdom of God. Does not mean we no longer resemble the earthly man, but that we already resemble the heavenly man? It is true that we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, but then due to our baptism, that earthly man in us died, and we were resurrected into the likeness of the heavenly man. However, we also know that this earthly form was created in the image of God. Still, because of Adam, who we believe would not have died if he had remained faithful to God, rather than being deceived by the evil one. Yet, it is his sin that brought about the death of the earthly man that we are all subject to. Still, if we change the way we think, or repent, as some would like to say, and forfeit this life that leads to death, accepting Jesus as our Lord and our Savior, we can live in the likeness of the man from heaven. We were once dead in our sins, living the earthy life, but now we are alive in Christ, and we are living the spiritual life that will never die. Surely, we still look like the earthly man that was created in the likeness of God, but we have to come to terms with it is still flesh and Paul is going to tell us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We must bear the likeness of the man from heaven, Jesus, if we are going to live in heaven. So either way, whether in the flesh, we were created in the likeness of God, or we are in Christ, and so we also bear the image of Jesus in our lives, at least in our spiritual lives, but should also want to appear like him in our earthy lives. To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus, all I ask is to be like him, all through life’s journey from earth to glory, all I ask is to be like Him.