Becoming God-like

SINCE we have been created in the image and likeness of

God, we should put all our energy in becoming like God. To be like God

is not some kind of mental disorder that some people stereotype such

effort to be. In fact, that is the ultimate purpose of our life here

on earth.

              We need to be reminded that our life here on earth is the

time God uses in his eternity to create us. Our creation is not yet

over. We are still a work in progress, a work that now includes our

redemption. In the eternity of God, he knows that man would fall from

his state of original justice and would need to be redeemed.

   

            There are many things involved in becoming God-like. In

fact, everything must be involved, including our weaknesses, our sins

which, if handled properly, can also actually lead us to God.

Precisely God became man to show us the way of how we can become like

him amid our wounded and sinful human condition here on earth.

             But for this purpose, we cannot overemphasize the need for

us to study and meditate on the life of Christ as recorded in the

gospels and taught authoritatively by the Church.

  

            We have to familiarize ourselves with his words and deeds,

with every gesture and reaction he made to the different situations,

since everything he said and did was meant to show us how to deal with

the different situations of our life.

             Precisely Christ said that he is “the way, the truth and

the life” for us. We cannot be any other than be like Christ. We need

to assume his mind and his will. We need to have his heart.

  

            If that sounds incredible, do not worry because in the end

it is Christ himself who will do it for us. He will be the one to

complete and perfect what God has started with us. Ours is simply to

be open to his will and ways, like “clay in the potter’s hand.” (cfr.

Jer 18,6)

  

            We need to overcome the understandable awkwardness we feel

in dealing with this truth about ourselves. Our nature is an open one,

not a closed one. It is open to the elevation to the supernatural life

of God, or to its downgrading to the level of the animals and to

damned.

  

            We have to do our part to become God-like in Christ

through the Holy Spirit. And there are many and even endless ways of

achieving this goal. Definitely, we have to learn to pray, to talk

with God, to have a constant consciousness of his presence and his

interventions.

  

            We have to avail of the sacraments which are the usual

channels for God’s grace to come to us. We have to learn how to fight

against anything that takes us away from God—our weaknesses, the

temptations and our sins, the deceptive allurements of the world and

the tricks of the devil.

  

            We should realize more deeply that we are becoming more

and more like God everyday. We should aim at getting to see,

understand and react to things in the way God would see, understand

and react to them through Christ in the Holy Spirit.

  

            In a sense, everyone of us should learn how to be

meditative and contemplative even in the midst of our worldly affairs.

In fact, the world and everything in it should not be a hindrance in

our relation to God. If we try our best to be like God in Christ, we

would know how to deal with whatever worldly situation we can find

ourselves in, such that it would lead us to God.

  

            God has given us all the means. And there are now many and

abundant instrumentalities in the Church and in the world that would

make these divine means accessible to us. The different charisms and

spiritualities in the Church offer such facilities. They are all there

for the taking so that in the end we can be God-like.