Growing like one another.

"We've been living together for too long!"  Okay, as I spoke those words to me wee wife, my tongue was firmly in my cheek.  But what had prompted them?  Well, on this occasion it was her assurance that, while she had been experiencing a  disturbing dream in the previous night, my arm had reached across her, and comforted her - even although I was sound asleep, and unaware of having provided such husbandly reassurance!  Of course, similar things happen with amazing regularity.  One of us mentions something - only to discover that the other was thinking exactly the same thing!  It's all part of having spent almost forty-one years as a married couple, and having shared so many of life's experiences.  I recall reading - a long time ago - that, after many years together, some dog-owners and their pets begin to look the same.  For my wife's sake, I hope that that is not also the case with humans - that is, if she were to start to look like me!!

So what's the lesson from this little exercise?  For the disciple of Jesus, it is surely that, if we are truly spending time with Him, then we should be becoming increasingly like Him!  This is the process known to theologians as sanctification and, according to the apostle, John, it reaches fulfilment when we enter His nearer presence in that dimension that we usually refer to as heaven/glory (I John 3:2).  

Of course, it's easier to emulate a fallen human being, than the perfect One - the God-Man.  Maybe that's why Paul told the Corinthian believers to "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (I Cor 11:1;RSV - my emphasis).  The unknown writer of the letter to Jewish followers of Jesus encouraged his readers to be "... imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb 6:12;RSV ).

Sanctification, as I try to explain in the book that is now nearing completion (any friendly publisher reading this is welcome to contact me!!!), is a process.  It is a process that only ends when we slip through that delicate veil that separates time from eternity.  But it's a process that ought not to cease.  I am not yet perfect - but I (and, more importantly, others) ought to be able to see a positive difference from what I was a year ago to what I am today.  As the little one-liner that I have on my study wall says: "In this life, I will never be sinless but, by the grace of God, I may sin less".

I've been living with Jesus for even longer than I've been living with my wife.  I trust that I am sometimes thinking the same things as He is thinking; that I am becoming more like Him.  It's what He wants, and it's all for my own good!