So there is sin. That is our doing, when we are too self-centered to follow God's way.
Salvation. Well, that's God's doing, reaching out through time and space to give us a chance to start again.
Consider now your willfulness. Receive now your salvation.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
1 John 3:1-3
Your body is changing, isn’t it? The way the hormones reshape your shape — not much you can do about that. But you can exercise, choose what to wear, choose how to style your hair – you do have some control. Your brain is changing, too. Some changes you can’t control, some you can, by what you choose to learn.
“It isn’t yet clear what we will be” — nobody can predict exactly who the future “you” will be. God’s goal, however, is for each of us, in our own ways, to be like Jesus. God’s plan is that one day, when Jesus returns, we “will be like him.” In Jesus’ lifetime, lots of people had trouble understanding him. Sometimes, so do I, if I’m truthful; but someday we’ll all see him as he really is, and then we’ll realize how we truly can be Christ-like.
Find ways that you can be like Jesus, and those ways will also make you more truly you.
Richard Vinson
Lord, help me become more and more like you. Amen.
There is no falling that can keep you down forever.
There is no shortcoming that can leave you always in debt.
For God has determined to offer salvation
Every day,
Every time,
Every stride,
Every halting step.
Believe, and receive your salvation.