It’s not about how much you have, how busy you stay, how high you rise in society, who you marry, etc. It’s about WHO you are becoming throughout the course of your life.

Strictly speaking, we are not human BEINGS, we are humans BECOMING, according to theologian R.C. Sproul. 

Humans change with the breeze. Physically, cells in our body are dying all the time, then replaced by new ones, only to repeat the cycle until we die.

Emotionally, mentally we are a boiling cauldron of constant change, transformation and contradictions.

Only God is an authentic “BEING,” in that is He is immutable, unchanging and therefore, He is fully formed.

So, since we are human “becomers,” the real question is, becoming what? Becoming who?

If left to ourselves and based on past performance, what will be the likely outcome of our lives? It’s a big deal.

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory: 

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

“All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

You Can’t Do This by Yourself

The Apostle Paul showed the way in 2 Corinthians 5:16-18:

“Therefore, from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

The key is that you must be a brand-new creation in Christ who has been in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is the heart of the Christian message — you cannot do this yourself — only the Holy Spirit can do it in/for you.

Either you have been born again by a Divine act of spiritual intervention, or you are still the same old person you were at birth (in the flesh). One leads to life, the other, death.

So what am I becoming?

It depends.

If you are “in Christ” you will become what God wants you to be, in the image of His Son Jesus, as described in Romans 8:28-30:

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son …”

Then, we will learn the gentle, easy ways of grace, deferring to the Spirit within us rather than attempting to carry on a DIY Christian life. That’s called “religion,” which is too “me-focused.”

Instead, according to Hebrews 12:1-2, we must, “rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith.”

You are not alone in this battle. You are being cheered on by “a great cloud of witnesses surrounding you.”

Those witnesses are the saints that have gone before you in ages past and have reached their destination safe and sound.

As written in Philippians 2:13, the key is to press on, knowing, “… it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.”

How About You?

We have two choices and only two:

• Becoming progressively conformed to the image of Adam No. 1, our original progenitor in the flesh (leading to death)
• Becoming progressively conformed to the image of God’s Last Adam Jesus Christ, our Savior in the Spirit (leading to eternal life)

As explained in 1 Corinthians 15:45-46:

“So also it is written: ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ The last Adam was a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.”