God wants all of His children to be moulded into the likeness of Jesus Christ, the Firstborn among all creation (see Colossians 1:15). The Bible tells us that He is so committed to bringing us to Christ-likeness that He makes all things work together to do just that.
Romans 8:28-29 tells us, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."
By this, we know that every lesson and learning that we receive from the Lord is not just meant to build us up or train us into becoming a better person. No, it is all meant to make us like Christ.
Here are some ways God teaches us lessons geared towards Christ-likeness.
1. His Word
There's no better teacher than God Himself, communicating necessary, timeless, and relevant truths to us through His very Word. If we want to know God, His attributes, and who He really is, there's no better place to look at and dig into than His own Word.
Men of faith through the ages know that the Bible is indispensable in the walk towards Christ-likeness. Described in it is the very character and nature of God, fully embodied in Jesus Christ. Just imagine how glorious John must have felt when he wrote his letter in 1 John 1:1, which says,
"We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life."
2. Direct Experiences
Next to God's Word, we have the opportunity to experience His hand in everything, if only we would realise His purpose for all things that are happening to us. We will do well to trust Him in all that happens. After all, He knows His plans for us, plans that are good (see Jeremiah 29:11).
At other times, God permits us to experience a lot of hardship and suffering, just so that we will learn to love Him more than ourselves, and so that we would learn to avoid sin and wrongdoing.
"Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, To bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life." (Job 33:29-30)
3. Indirect Experiences
There are times when God teaches us lessons through other people. Consider how Jethro, a priest, was able to give counsel to Moses. Or how the writer of Proverbs kept teaching his son. Or how Jesus modelled God's love to His disciples. It's but wisdom to learn from other people who have learned precious things from the Lord.
