In Philippians 2 Paul recites what many believe are the words to an ancient Christian hymn, the Carmen Christi

Though I may write more about this later, I think for now I’ll just let this hymn speak for itself:

There’s a little ash tree in our backyard that I planted a few years ago. Every year it seems to be a late bloomer. Of course, in Houston anything that hasn’t leafed out by the end of March is a late-bloomer.

As of last week, the tree was still bare of leaves. I was convinced that it had died. It certainly looked dead, and it showed no signs of life; no greening, no budding, nothing.

Yesterday Jill mentioned to me that she had seen a leaf on the tree. Incredulous, I went to take a look and found that the little tree is indeed alive, and will burst forth with leaves soon! Just since yesterday several more have sprouted.

This reminded me of something: there are people I know who are far away from God right now, or who are drifting away. Some have been on my heart and prayers a lot recently, because they were once so full of life, and now they appear dead. It’s hard to see that. It hurts.

But appearances can be deceiving, and not every dry, brittle tree devoid of leaves is dead. Some of them have life, ready to burst, just underneath the surface.

And even if dead, they can be raised. Jesus can do anything!

Today is Good Friday. I am reminded of something someone said to me in my first year as a Christian: it was Easter, and they said “This is really what it’s

all about”.

Everyone, this is really what it’s all about! Easter is the turning point of history, the culmination of a rescue mission that was planned before the foundation of the world. An act of love and sacrifice: the worthiest One dying for those who were completely unworthy so that they could be made worthy in Him and glorify Him forever. Easter confounds the wise, just as it confounded (and continues to confound) our ancient enemy satan who believed that he had us and the world as well to call his own. It was all wrenched from him on that first Easter Sunday, as our Hero, our beloved Savior burst forth from the tomb, alive forever!

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

– Revelation 5:9-14 (ESV)

For believers . . .

This thought came to me while reading Romans 8 with the GAP class on Sunday:

We all want to know God’s will for our life (as we phrase it), and we are deeply interested in our destiny. Not necessarily our eternal destiny, although that does have a way of gripping the mind at times too. But we want to know where we’re headed in this life. Young people and students want to live epic lives. Speaking as a man, I know that many men want a destiny of significance – men want to matter. Many singles dream of their destiny of marital bliss. Wives and mothers often dream of a destiny beyond the routine daily workload they carry. Many of us hope we are destined for greatness.

And with all that we’re still shooting too low.

Here’s our destiny, straight out of the Bible:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:29 (ESV)

Unfortunately, it’s hard for many of us to read that passage without tripping over “he also predestined” as it pertains to election, God’s sovereignty, and similar topics. While that is important, it’s not, in my opinion, the point here. Because what this verse tells us is our destiny.

Our destiny as children of God is to be conformed to the image of his Son. To be like Jesus. And that doesn’t mean to be better, or to be good, although if we’re like Jesus we will most certainly be better than we are; the aim here isn’t to become a new and improved version of yourself, although improvement for most of us would be very much welcomed.

No, we are destined to be like Jesus. This goes beyond self-improvement to the complete overthrow of who we are now. As someone once said to me, we are not to turn over a new leaf, but rather to become a new leaf. Our Father is patient, yet amazingly focused and fiercely dedicated to the tearing down, destruction, and razing of our brokenness and the rebuilding of our lives into the image of his Son. To be conformed to his image, resurrecting from the tomb of our fallenness into a life such as we’ve never known. In case you’ve ever wondered, that’s God’s plan for your life.

And he will bring it to pass.

Because it’s your destiny!