The Church and the Image of Jesus

We have a bit of a quandary here: seeking this joy, but seeking it in the wrong way, which is an ongoing challenge.  Too often, when hearing Jesus' call, we respond by going out, knocking on doors, asking people if they are Christians, and inviting them to study the Bible with us.  That's our usual way of responding, and please understand there is nothing wrong with visiting our neighbors and studying the Bible with them--in fact, everything is right about it.  But that 's not what reflecting the image of Jesus is all about!

Perhaps I am exaggerating here, but I think we primarily approach reflecting the image of Jesus as an activity.  What  was the early church up to when they were doing God's work?  Their one supreme object was to reflect the image of Jesus--that's all--and do whatever they could to further God's work.  It wasn't a matter of members being coerced to do this or that, committees mandating some activity or the apostles using some spiritually-contrived artificial pressure to get the members out.  No, their supreme object was reflecting the image of Jesus and doing whatever they could to further the work of God.  God performed a miracle in their hearts that enabled them to do just that, and they did it in a manner and with a sense of urgency that the far exceeded anything human coercion or pressure could have effected.

It might help if we pause for a few moments and consider the church--and I want to say at the outset that I do this reverently because Jesus died for the church and loved the church with a supreme love in spite of the church's imperfection.  The message to the Laodicean church found in Revelation 3:14-21 includes a less than wonderful description: wretched, miserable, blind, poor, and naked.  Unfortunately, the church doesn't even recognize its true condition.  The description in Revelation 3 is unflattering, but it is God's pronouncement of us, and we shouldn't get upset or discouraged by reading it; just recognize that we've gotten ourselves into a mess as human beings.  Fortunately, the same message that accurately describes our condition also enumerates Gods remedy and which constitutes that perfect provision which has in it "not one thread of human devising.

I can't add to his at all except to say that I want to wear His robe of righteousness that does not have one thread of human devising.  Let's work toward this goal and abide with Christ on a continual basis so that we will be able to His robe of righteousness.  Grandma Joan