The Oldest Lie in History

"You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'” Isaiah 14:13-14

If you are a Christian, you may have the desire to be more Christlike. According to one article, "Becoming more like Christ is the desire of every believer, and it is encouraging to know that God has the same desire for us. In fact, the Bible says that God “predestined [believers] to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." Making us Christlike is God’s work, and He will see it through to the end." What does it mean to be more like Christ? Apparently, there are "only" three steps required to achieve your desire. First, you are to surrender to God, which is said to be "total self-dedication" to God. The second step is "freedom from sin." "Since Jesus lived a sinless life, the more we consider ourselves “dead to sin” and live a life of purity, the more like Jesus we will be." The third and final step is Christian growth. When we are first saved we are "immature in wisdom and knowledge and inexperienced in grace and love." But, it is said that as we grow in each of these things, "our charge is to become stronger—and more Christlike." I wish they would just come out and say it. What they are really meaning to say is that you must be like God! Jesus is God. To be more like Christ is to be more like God. Where have we heard this before? We have heard this message in the Garden of Eden. There we have Satan talking to Eve trying to deceive her into eating the forbidden fruit. Satan says, "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5).” Therefore, if your desire is to be more like Christ, you are really saying that your desire is to be deceived by Satan and to proverbially eat the forbidden fruit all over again. The oldest lie in history has now become the accepted model of Christian living. How does believing this lie manifest itself in our daily lives? We tell ourselves, "If I go to church every time the doors are open, give a tenth of my income to the church, participate in every program the church offers that I am eligible for, devote myself to stop sinning by obeying everything that is good and repenting of all that is evil, I will be more like Christ." That, of course, is an abbreviated list, but you get my point. Basically, by believing the lie that you are to be more like Christ, you have committed yourself to a life of total frustration, despair, and the belief that you are not only becoming less like Christ but perhaps, you aren't even a Christian in the first place. Jesus Christ said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)." You know you will never be as perfect as God, your heavenly Father, but you will still attempt the impossible in order to meet your desires.

The desire of your heart is not to be more like Christ. The desire of your heart is for your God! That empty feeling everyone has in the depths of their soul is the absence of the unconditional love and total acceptance of their God received through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This can only be met by God through your faith in Jesus Christ. It is an act of your spirit, not of your flesh. When you become a child of God by being born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ, God begins a work in you. By meeting the desires of your heart God will begin to change who you are. By doing this you will begin to be conformed to the likeness of his Son in that you will begin to become a reflection of Jesus Christ. You will be conformed in such a way that as you live in dependence on Him and receive what He has for you, His very being and character, He will be reflected off of you and you will bear His image; just as a mirror reflects the image of the one who looks into it. You will surrender to God. Not through total self-dedication to God, but by resting in all that He has given you as an inheritance of your faith in Jesus Christ. You will start to have freedom from sin, but only because the deepest desires of your heart have been met. Therefore, you begin to engage the world with what you have to offer it, not with what you hope to receive from it through the commission of sin. The only way you will begin to grow is because God is no longer holding your sins against you. This allows you to begin to have a relationship with Him because there is nothing standing between you and Him. Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).” Christians are known by our love for each other not how much our behavior is like Jesus Christ. Our love for one another will grow in direct proportion to how much we are being loved by God, in Christ. As stated in 1 Corinthians 13, we will begin to be more patient, kinder, less envious, less boastful, less proud, more honoring of each other, less self-seeking, slower to anger, more forgiving, not delighting in evil, focus more on the truth, more protecting, trustworthy, hopeful, persevering, and less failing each other. When God looks at you, He sees the reflection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, you are already like God in the sense that you have surrendered to Him through your faith in Jesus Christ. You are like God in that He is no longer holding your sins against you because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And, finally, you are growing in wisdom, knowledge, grace, and love because you are alive to God through the indwelling Holy Spirit and living things grow. There is no need to desire to be more Christlike because you have Him living in you finishing the work He began. The quicker you accept this, the sooner you will be able to avoid being deceived by Satan's attempt to get you to be like him.by trying to be like God.