What does it look like "to be conformed to the image of the Son"? (Romans 8.29 meets Jesus' High Priestly Prayer)
According to the apostle Paul, God is committed to conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom 8.29). Paul does not explicitly develop what he means by this in the rest of his letter, though one could argue that he has Romans 12-16 in mind.
And so it raises a question in my mind: what does it look like to be conformed to the image of the Son?
I suppose there are a number of ways to explore this question, but I have been challenged by drawing this claim by Paul into conversation with Jesus in his 'high priestly prayer" in John 17.
The prayer is astonishingly revealing because it tells us what Jesus was doing before creation: He was delighting in the Father's love. In fact, he states that His glory is the fact that he has been loved before the foundation of the world (John 17.24). What is more, we learn from this prayer in John 17 that Jesus came into the world so that the love with which he has been loved by the Father might be in us (John 17.26). According to Jesus, this is life--sharing in the love that He enjoys with the Father (John 17.3, 26).
Jesus was sent into the world in order to draw us into the life of love that He shares with the Father; His primary mission is that we might delight in what He delights in.
Herein lies the challenge for me. When I think about what it looks like to conformed to the image of the Son, I often think about it in terms of some kind of task or responsibility that I ought to perform. But Jesus, in His prayer in John 17, is pointing more to a posture or disposition: delight, enjoyment.
What does it mean that God is working to conform us to the image of the Son? It means that what God wants from us is delight or enjoyment of His love. This is our primary calling: to enjoy God and draw others into that fellowship: "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" (John 17.18).
So, when I look at my life in light of this conversation between Romans 8.29 and John 17, and when I ask my self what it means to be conformed to the image of the Son, I must ask myself, Am I growing in my delight of the love shared in the life of God?
And so it raises a question in my mind: what does it look like to be conformed to the image of the Son?
I suppose there are a number of ways to explore this question, but I have been challenged by drawing this claim by Paul into conversation with Jesus in his 'high priestly prayer" in John 17.
The prayer is astonishingly revealing because it tells us what Jesus was doing before creation: He was delighting in the Father's love. In fact, he states that His glory is the fact that he has been loved before the foundation of the world (John 17.24). What is more, we learn from this prayer in John 17 that Jesus came into the world so that the love with which he has been loved by the Father might be in us (John 17.26). According to Jesus, this is life--sharing in the love that He enjoys with the Father (John 17.3, 26).
Jesus was sent into the world in order to draw us into the life of love that He shares with the Father; His primary mission is that we might delight in what He delights in.
Herein lies the challenge for me. When I think about what it looks like to conformed to the image of the Son, I often think about it in terms of some kind of task or responsibility that I ought to perform. But Jesus, in His prayer in John 17, is pointing more to a posture or disposition: delight, enjoyment.
What does it mean that God is working to conform us to the image of the Son? It means that what God wants from us is delight or enjoyment of His love. This is our primary calling: to enjoy God and draw others into that fellowship: "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" (John 17.18).
So, when I look at my life in light of this conversation between Romans 8.29 and John 17, and when I ask my self what it means to be conformed to the image of the Son, I must ask myself, Am I growing in my delight of the love shared in the life of God?
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