URC Daily Devotion 4 October 2024

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…
 
Galatians 4:19  

My little children for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…
 
Reflection

Christian discipleship is sometimes spoken of in terms of our imitating Christ in our lives, and Thomas A Kempis’ book ‘The Imitation of Christ’, written between 1420 and 1427, has become a classic of Christian spirituality, but Bonhoeffer looks at things rather differently. In ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, he writes,
 
“To be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is not an ideal of realising some kind of similarity with Christ, which we are asked to attain. It is not we who change ourselves into the image of God. Rather, it is the very image of God, the form of Christ, which seeks to take shape within us (Galatians 4.19). It is Christ’s own form which seeks to manifest itself in us. Christ does not cease working in us until he has changed us into Christ’s own image.”
 
In a similar vein in ‘Ethics’ he says, that rather than our striving to become like Jesus, “the form of Jesus Christ himself so works on us that it moulds us, conforming our form to Christ’s own (Galatians 4.19). Christ remains the only one who forms.”
 
This emphasis on Christ working in us does not mean that we do nothing or are completely passive, but it does mean that rather than trying our hardest to be like Christ, we open ourselves to him and allow him to transform our lives through his powerful love.
 
This transformation of our lives, this being conformed to Christ, is not only about us as individuals, it is also about us together as members of the Body of Christ, the Church. Bonhoeffer goes on to say that “The Church is the place where Jesus Christ’s taking form is proclaimed and where it happens.” Now there’s a challenging thought!
 
Prayer       

Living, loving Lord, we acknowledge that we cannot transform ourselves and ask that we may have the humility and the courage to allow you to keep conforming us into your likeness. We pray, too, that our churches may be communities where your transforming of people’s lives is not only proclaimed but also seen in reality. Amen.