What to be Christ-like involves

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

OUR Christian faith teaches us that since we are God’s image and likeness, we should see to it that our life here on earth is meant for us to correspond to that divine will. We should bear this in mind so that we avoid getting distracted and lost as to what really is the ultimate purpose of our life here on earth.

And since Christ is the Son of God who became man, he is the perfect image God has of his own self. Because of that, we can say that Christ is also the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our humanity that has been damaged by sin, since we God’s image and likeness. That is why Christ once said that he is “the way, the truth and the life” for us. (Jn 14,6)

In other words, we have to understand that our life here on earth is meant for us to pursue our becoming like Christ, or “another Christ” as some theologians have said. Everything in our life should be referred to, oriented to or understood as an occasion, means or reason to be Christ-like.

Insofar as Christ is concerned, he has given us everything such that whatever situation we can find ourselves in this life, both the good ones and the bad ones, he has given us a way of how to handle it so we can become like him.

And what does to be like Christ involve? He himself told us about this. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it,” he said. (Mt 10,37-39)

Tough requirements, indeed! But if we would just keep and strengthen our faith, we know that we actually have been given everything so that what God wants us to be can be attained by us. It is always a test of faith if we really want to be what God wants us to be!

We may not be able to achieve this ideal perfectly by relying on our efforts alone, but as long as we do our best to follow what Christ tells us, then that ideal can be achieved ultimately with God’s grace. It’s always God who would complete and perfect everything, just as St. Paul once said: “He, who has begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6)

But on our part, we should do everything to correspond to what Christ is forming us to be. We need to learn how to be increasingly detached from the things of the world and even from our own selves insofar as they would constitute as an obstacle in making us increasingly identified with Christ.

We know all too well how unduly attached we can be to the things of the world, and especially to our own personal things and relations. We need to develop the proper discipline so that we can have the proper attitude toward these things of the world and our own personal things and relations, making them helpful rather than a hindrance in our pursuit to be Christ-like.

            Email: roycimagala@gmail.com