Christ-Likeness Fashioned

Michael E. Wood
June 23, 2011

Psalm 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy Name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for Thy Name’s sake.


There are dangers in focusing on ourselves as individuals concerning change in our lives. If our desire is stimulated by either feeling better about ourselves or outwardly looking better to others, our motivation is far from pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. When God has done a work of grace in our hearts through the merit of Christ alone, the outward manifestations may not be very apparent at all depending on the former character of the individual. In some cases an outwardly radical change may prove to be a work of common grace rather than that of particular redemptive grace, but will surely become manifest at the Judgment seat of God if not before then..

From God’s perspective, as He speaks and manifests His will by the Word of His grace, His glory is the primary purpose of our salvation, for His glory is worth more than the souls of all men. Thus our definitive sanctification both individually and as His body is a part of the covenant of grace established between God the Father and God the Son before all creation, and our progressive sanctification manifests the work of His Spirit evidenced first by change within that no one else on earth may be privy to by immediate observation, and yet the heart rejoices in God our Savior through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoices in the obedience of Christ alone as it’s full satisfaction. For of Him and through Him, and to Him are things; to Whom belongs glory and honor and power, and blessing both now and forevermore. Amen

Our sanctification issues not
By the works from our own hands,
But only from a heart made new
In Christ made strong and stands
Against the torrents of the passions
Springing from sinful lusts,
Enabled by the Spirit’s power
To fulfill the Almighty musts
That come from God alone
As a Father Who surely will fulfill
All He has promised showing the glory
Of Christ who did all of His will.


So help us Dear Father Who now in this life
You’ve called by Your great Sovereign choice,
And justified freely as only in Jesus
We’re made to hear truth in the voice
Of Him that from heaven now speaketh to all
Removing the things that are shaken
Till we stand on the mount of Your infinite love
And shine like the light of a beacon.


We praise You for grace by which You exalt
Yourself to show mercy to us
And cause us to know the way in to walk
As You gave us The Song of Your chorus.


So if now you’re made to see and believe;
God’s glory your one greatest passion,
His grace you will find sufficient through time
As your being is Christ-likeness fashioned.