A Spittin' Image

"He also did predestinate [us] to be conformed to the image of His Son...be not conformed to this world." 

Matthew Henry says, "None can know their election but by their conformity to the image of Christ...it cannot be a temptation to any to be conformed to the world to believe that they were predestined to be conformed to Christ."

Predestination has to do with saved people. God predetermined before hand that His elect be like His Son. He has destined each who name the name of Christ to ultimately bear the moral and spiritual image of the Son of God. As the old timers used to say, "We'll be the spittin' image of Him."

A preacher visiting a mountain man noticed he was whittling on a piece of wood. Trying to get a conversation started, the pastor asked what he was making. The reply was, "An elephant," to which the man of God said, "Wow, that must be difficult!" The old man answered, "Not really, I just cut off everything that don't look like an elephant."

And so it is with us beloved, God is cutting away everything in our lives that does not look like Jesus Christ!

Don' Give Up On God

In Psalm 81:14 God tells His people, “I should soon have…” The context, verses 11 through 16, show they couldn’t wait for God, but rather gave up on Him. Their clocks, like our own, ran fast. How many have given up on the Lord, not knowing the answer was on it’s way, right around the corner, so to speak? As someone has said, “It’s always too soon to give up.”

When your need seems slow in coming, remember the “raven” is on it’s way...Don’t give up! When life feels useless, think of John the Baptist in the wilderness all those years...Don’t give up! When your prayers are not answered immediately, remind yourself of Daniel’s three week wait...Don’t give up! When deliverance looks afar off, read about the three Hebrew children...Don”t give up! When darkness is prolonged, take Job for your example, see the end of the Lord...Don’t give up!

Some will never know what would have happened in their lives had they waited for the Lord just a little longer. Throughout scripture, God is known to wait before taking action on His children’s behalf. “God waited in the days of Noah.” And so, we need to learn to wait on a waiting God. “Therefore will the Lord wait...Blessed are all they that wait for Him.”

Learning the Word

Darling David said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted;that I might learn thy statutes (Word).” David knew the “letter” of God’s Law; but in his affliction he learned the “spirit” of the Word. That is, the underlying and deeper meaning.

A preacher friend, now with the Lord, exemplified the above truth to me years ago. He was born with Cerebral Palsy and knew first hand the meaning of affliction. He asked me why God wanted Abraham to offer up Isaac? My immediate answer was “He was a type of Christ, says Hebrews.” Bill said, “True, but is there also not a deep spiritual meaning?” Then continued, “Two equal loves cannot coexist, one love must die.”

Affliction has a way, if you’ll pardon the expression, of putting clothes on naked truth. Suffering makes truths we have long known come alive. Truths that had laid dormant, suddenly have new meaning. They bleed, weep, and hurt like we ourselves. An example of this is when we put Joseph’s clothes on Romans 8:28. It is then the latter means so much more to us.

Those Blessed Psalms

My wife has a book by C.S. Lewis entitled, Reflections on the Psalms. Whenever I see it I’m reminded again of how I, along with a multitude of others, love this precious book. Through the years, I have jotted down some little personal notes in the heading this book. I’d like to share some of these thoughts with you today, if you don't mind:

1. The Spirit-filled believer is drawn to Psalms (Eph.5:18-19).

2. Much of the book is autobiographical...about David's personal life.

3. There is a Balm in Psalms. It’s the “Gilead” of the Bible (Jer.8:22 a, cp. Gen.37:25).

4. It is in the very heart of the Bible because it’s to the heart.

5. David’s physical foes have become our spiritual enemies today
(1Cor.10:6 a, 11).

6. Look for Jesus when you read the Psalms (Luke 24:44 cp. Psl.2:2 and  Acts 4:26).

A Psalm a day will bring the Great Physician your way.