THIS IS WHAT SANCTIFICATION IS ABOUT: becoming increasingly like Him. The Bible says that through His promises we will “be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This nature of Jesus is the life that the Spirit conveys to us by grace.

Who is the greatest, fastest and best?

Becoming more like Jesus is what we need to be occupied with. If we are only occupied with all the rest, we will soon start to compete against, quarrel with or become jealous of one another. The spiritual work will start to be done in a carnal way.

Christians sometimes act absurdly in their eagerness to be the greatest, fastest, coolest and best. They always have to be on the latest wave, have the most powerful experience and, if possible, show off something that no one else has.

If you claim that the only truly important thing is that we are called to salvation, you will meet various reactions. “Called to salvation — sure, but then what? What comes next?” Sanctification comes next. This is what we are essentially called to. “But tell us something more exciting ...” No, there isn’t anything “more exciting.” We need to watch out so that we don’t fool ourselves and end up with a superficial and wrong identity.

We are not called only to do lots of fantastic things for God. We are called to become like a certain, wonderful person: Jesus Christ.

DESTINED FOR SANCTIFICATION

FOR WHOM HE FOREKNEW, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:29-30).

The sanctification process — the ongoing salvation — is the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. This is how you become what God predestined you to be. He has predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son. Jesus is the perfect image both of who God is and of who man is and ought to be. His nature is perfect God and perfect man. He is the Son of Man, standing in glory in the Book of Revelation. The Father’s plan for you is that you become as He is.

God having “predestined,” as this verse says, may cause problems for some. But it is really quite simple and undramatic. For example, if you say that you are going to Paris tomorrow, you have “predestined” or planned to do it. You have planned something that has not yet happened. You have planned to go to Paris, so you go and buy a ticket to Paris. You adjust your life according to what you have determined to do.

God has planned a family that will be conformed to His Son. In that sense, Jesus is the “prototype” for all those people that God has planned will form part of His family. The Father has this prototype in front of Him, and He also has you and me — who are a bit different, bent and crooked — in front of Him. What the Father does is that He, together with the Holy Spirit, starts forming you according to the image of the Son.

This is the sanctification process that lasts throughout our lives. One day, when that process is finished, we will be in heaven together. Then people will look at you and at Jesus and say, “Wow, you two are incredibly alike!” In 1 John 3:2 it says, “we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” You will be so alike as a result of being in one another; His life has become your life, and your life has become His life. All of us in heaven will be conformed to His image and look like Him, be like Him, think like Him and live like Him. We will be together with Him and glorify Him for all eternity in heaven.

This is completely different to earthly ambitions of having a “movement” to take over someone else’s “movement.” That is far too small! We belong to the movement that comes from heaven, the river of the Holy Spirit that flows through time. We mustn’t set the target too low. If we do, we will become too secure and restricted, and think too much inside the box. Remember that we are on our way to heaven! Don’t allow yourself to get so terribly aggravated about how your fellow travelers speak, think and behave. And don’t speculate so much about how they managed to get a ticket on this train. Think more about what the Holy Spirit wants to change in your life so that you arrive at the end destination of your salvation: Jesus Christ taking shape in your life. That is what we should be occupied with. That is what He requires of you and me.

AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY

WE ARE CALLED to Christlike-ness, to have His passionate heart, mind and thoughts, to do His works and have His lifestyle. This is what can make walking with Jesus so difficult. As long as we limit the Christian life to “signs and wonders,” a certain sacramental stewardship or a particular doctrine, it feels fine as long as we stay within these boundaries. It gets worse when Jesus starts talking about lending money without expecting to get it back, visiting the sick and poor, and forgiving everything and everyone at all times. After that it just gets worse and worse. We are to deny ourselves, give up everything we own, and come and follow Him. Jesus is awfully concrete.

Our great problem is not whether our beliefs are right or wrong — in that area we all fall a bit short at times and have to correct ourselves. No, that is not where the shoe pinches. Instead, the question is whether we really want to live this unselfish life with Jesus. Either we live it or we secretly become little egotists, who live for ourselves, are occupied with ourselves, limit everything to ourselves, base everything on ourselves and don’t really take what Jesus is saying very seriously at all.

Perhaps you still say, “I don’t want to hear this, I want to hear wonderful testimonies about signs and wonders!” Yes, but this is actually the way to real signs and wonders. Let’s not deceive ourselves. And let’s not be falsely comforted by a preacher who tells us we don’t need to worry about these Bible verses. We can be tempted to call every mention of a holy life “religious” or “legalistic,” just to avoid having to hear it. But if we do, we will end up in a false freedom, and instead of being authentic Christians, we will be cheap and superficial imitations.