The following article is an excerpt from Make Me Like Jesus by Michael Phillips.
We now return to the request I made years ago, when I began asking God to conform me to the image of his Son.
I prayed: God, make me like Jesus.
I call this the prayer of Christlikeness. It is not a prayer to be prayed frivolously. If such a prayer has not been an active part of your prayer life prior to this point, I would encourage you not to pray it yet, not until you read on.
If a single element exists in the Christian life where counting the cost is imperative, it is in the praying of this prayer.
Be very clear, there is a cost involved in becoming more like Jesus Christ. A heavy cost.
If you don’t mean business with God, you will only slow your spiritual progress by praying the prayer of Christlikeness. The words seem simple enough. But the means by which it is answered are anything but simple.
The prayer of Christlikeness truly represents the ultimate road less traveled. It is a pilgrimage that, if undertaken seriously and reaffirmed daily, will change everything. It will set you on a course apart from the crowd, even the “spiritual” crowd. In quiet and subtle ways you will find yourself diverging even from many in your own church. As your outlook and the priorities of your heart begin to shift, you will recognize that you are on a journey different from that of most within the religious multitude.
Teachings that sugarcoat the gospel message by telling self-absorbed Christians what they want to hear, and ignore all those unpleasant things like self-denial and putting others first, will always find a receptive public. Of course people love such messages. Who wouldn’t rather be told that God wants us eating chocolate-chip cookies and cherry pie rather than broccoli and Brussels sprouts? Scarce wonder that the most popular teachings today are those that promise the greatest blessings and make us feel good about ourselves.
It’s all the fun and joy and blessing of Christianity, without the cost. It all goes down so easily. Being told that God wants for us exactly what our flesh wants too is the magic pill upon which dozens of ministries are based. It’s a little like a spiritual lottery ticket, a variation of the old God-wants-you-rich doctrine with which the Enemy has had so much success in the contemporary evangelical church.
But it’s not a teaching that proceeds from the mouth of Jesus.
Continue Reading: Make Me Like Jesus by Michael Phillips
Are we willing to ask God to make us like Jesus? If status-quo spirituality is for you, do not read this book by best-selling author Michael Phillips. It is a dangerous book to the flesh. The journey toward Christlikeness may be painful and costly. Yet that journey leads to the ultimate purpose God intends for all his children: being made into the image of his son.