Romans 8:29 tells us that “those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”  We tend to get stuck on foreknowledge and predestination, but what I’ve been thinking about is being conformed to the image of Jesus.

Ultimately it is God who conforms us to look and act like Jesus but what I’ve been thinking about is how we cooperate with God in that process. I think there are three ways.

First, we cooperate by changing our minds. Romans 12 tells us that we can be transformed by renewing our minds. We are formed by what we think about so we should think about the list of things in Philippians 4:8-9.

Second, we cooperate by changing our practices. The things we make, make us. So we need to do things like worship and Bible study, prayer and fasting, Sabbath and tithing, silence and solitude.

Finally, we cooperate by paying attention to our community. As every parent knows, peer pressure is real. So, when we place ourselves in a community of Christlike people we naturally become more Christlike ourselves.

Let’s cooperate with being conformed to the image of Jesus.