Conscious Decision to be Christlike

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NIV

When we received Jesus as Lord and Savior, and truly live according to His will, change is inevitable - our physical, emotional, and spiritual appearances will change for the better. Hence, some who used to know us would not be able to recognize the new us.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV




But these changes do not just happen by chance.

Above anything else, these were planned by God. The people whose lives were changed had a conscious decision to remain in God.

I believe that is the key on our end - we must have a conscious decision to be Christlike as we remain in God.


Here are some reminders for our journey with God in our new lives.


Consciously resist the devil.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 NIV

The devil will never stop convincing us that it is still the same us, that we do not need God, and that our old lives are better (money, men or women, control, more options, old buddies are better, etc.) This must be why Peter reminds us,

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 NIV

So, don't go to the enemy's camp, and claim you were tempted if you gave in. Be as far from it as possible. We are supposed to move away from temptations, not play with it.

Remember,

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 NIV

and

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Mark 8:36 NIV

 

Consciously resist backsliding.

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 2 Peter 2:20 NIV

How do we consciously resist backsliding?

Spend time fellowshipping with believers.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 NIV

In the fellowship of believers, there is unity; there is growth; there is encouragement. If there are conflicts, the Bible is rich with instructions on how to resolve them.

In our effort to be better, we get to sharpen each other in the knowledge of God.

Spend more time in God's Word.
Whatever we feed our mind more becomes our standard on almost everything. The music we listen to, the movies we watch, the books we read. They all contribute to what we believe in and how we react to things.

So let us spend more time reading God's Word. In this manner, we will have the standard of the Bible on how we must live.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17 NIV

The Word of God is our weapon against the enemy.


Spend less time with the world.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV

Don't get me wrong. We want to win our friends for Jesus. In fact, we want to bring as much people to the Lord. But we must make sure we spend more time in God's Word, and with fellow believers.
At the first sign of the devil's scheme, refuse to be part of it right away. Do not delay. The more we delay, the more damage the enemy makes.


Consciously connect with God.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5 NIV

Our lifeline is Jesus Christ Himself. Being closer to the world means being far from Him. We must consciously remain in Him at all times.
Always go back to the truth.

Jesus died for us, so we don't have to.

He took the punishment, so we don't have to.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV

The Lord chose to die for us while we were still sinners as a demonstration of His love for us. This same love is where we should remain so we may enjoy the life we now have in Him.
This is the same love that keeps us safe from the enemy.


Conclusion

The life we now live is not independent from its Source - God. In fact, it is so dependent on Him, nothing in what we can do counts to eternity if it is done without Him. Our salvation depends on Him. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from hell. Only through Jesus Christ may we be saved. Without Him, we are doomed to hell.

For this reason, we live for Christ, and we do our best to be like Him.

Being alive in God is accompanied by a conscious decision to stay alive in Christ and dead to sin.