By Merissa Wong • Feb 28, 2023
The 2023 edition of Our Best Thought is based on the devotional book, Missionary God, Missionary Bible by Dick Brogden. It is written by and for the Community, together with other devotional aids found. To subscribe to this Community on WhatsApp, click here. Send in your reflection on the readings via email here.
It is striking that God said to the Israelites:
“Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2).
In the devotional for February 19th, Brogden points out that YHWH is not just any other god of the nations, but that there is none like Him. Likewise, Israel as the nation chosen to be His kingdom of priests and holy nation, must be a distinctive community among the nations.
As Brogden says, how God saved and formed Israel was unprecedented and unparalleled. Israel was to respond to their redemption by obeying the laws and stipulation as laid in the covenantal relationship with YHWH. Likewise, today, He is doing the same with us as His church. He wants His saved people to live holy lives that clearly and visibly reflects who He is, right in the midst of where he has placed us.
I could not help but be reminded of how certain married couples who have been together for such a long time begin to look like each other. Initially it seems hard to believe, how two non-related people can grow to resemble each other. Perhaps it is the connection of their souls, the understanding of each other’s inner selves and the shared way of living, that culminate towards a growing similarity in their outward appearance over time.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says:
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Perhaps it is in this way that as we who are children of God contemplate our Father’s glory, connect with Him in prayer, know His heart through His Word and His actions, and live in holiness as He calls us to do, we will find ourselves being gradually transformed by His Spirit to be more and more like Christ—just as how married couple grow to resemble each other!
What a wonderful portrait of what it means to grow in Christlikeness!
In my own life I have seen the transforming work of God. The old me was critical and judgmental, both of others and of myself. As I grow closer to Him, these have gradually dissipated. I begin to see beauty in the people and the things around me, and I have a more loving appreciation of how my Creator has made me and all of his creations. I see beauty in growing to be more and more like Christ and my heart rejoices when people recognise and resonate with the distinctness and uniqueness of His holiness as reflected in and through His people.
My prayer is:
“Father, may I grow more and more like Jesus every day and help others to do the same. Holy Spirit, speak to me when I stray from the path. This I ask and pray in Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen. “