Our Hope: "We Shall Be Like Him"

Becoming a Christian means making a commitment.  Among other things, the person pledges to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

When someone does that, he winds up being changed into the likeness of Jesus himself “with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).  As time goes on--and with a few exceptional set backs that Paul doesn’t mention there--the Christian actually becomes more like Christ.

The best part of all the process of Christian growth is that, on the last day, it will be complete.  In the words of 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as his is.”  (For a long time now, I’ve been intrigued by the last part of that verse.  What is the connection between becoming like him and seeing him as he is?  I’m not sure I understand that part and would welcome reflections on it).

In the next verse, John adds, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”  Wherever Christian hope is real, people change for the better, knowing that someday they will become just like their Lord, with both a body and a spirit like His.