You must no longer live as the world lives, in futility, darkened in its understanding, alienated from God because of ignorance and hardness of heart. That is not what you learned of Christ. You were taught that you must put aside your former way of life, your old self, corrupted and deceived by its desires, and take on a new spiritual way of thinking. You must put on a new self in God's image, created in true righteousness and holiness.Ephesians 4: 17-24
The challenge of faith is to turn away from old ways and become a new person. This is the challenge that Jesus brought to the world. It was too unsettling for most of his hearers. They rejected him for such teaching, and when he continued to confront them with it, they had him executed.
The challenge to become a new person in the image of God is still deeply unsettling. It is distinctly at odds with the way of the world. The world's way is to look out for yourself, to indulge yourself, to actualize yourself, to promote yourself. The way of faith is to empty yourself so that God can enter with his abundant grace. Jesus teaches with his words, as he showed with his life, that we must be like a grain of wheat that in dying to itself is transformed into a rich harvest.
At the heart of faith is the truth that we are not of our own making. God is our creator, and he is not finished with us. The new person we are called to become is God's work, not our own. We are to become a new self in God's image, not in the image of some false god of our own choosing.
We look to Jesus to see God's image, to see what God is like, to see how God lives, and to see what we are to become. What we see is love. The way of love alone will humanize and sanctify our life, and lead us to that transformation of self that makes us children of God.
Lord Jesus, you are the way, the truth, and the life. You came into the world to show us who we are and what we are to become. We profess our faith in your word, and we place our hope in your promise of eternal life. Stay with us always, and guide us along the way, that we may do your will in all things, and live in holiness until you bring us home to the kingdom of heaven.