Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.. (1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV)
No Christian is perfect; we all make mistakes, we all sin, and not one of us has complete Christlikeness, nor will we attain it in this life. Our goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us, to change our thoughts, goals, desires, our whole lives, to be more Christlike.
Christian character is rooted in our belief about who God is, that He has spoken to us through His Word, that we are in relationship with Him, have dedicated ourselves to Him, and therefore desire to actively live our lives according to what He has revealed in the Bible.
Christian character calls for making conscious choices to allow the Holy Spirit to transform your character. It entails making right moral decisions over and over until doing the right thing, the godly thing, becomes second nature, part of who you are as a person. Having formed spiritual character day by day, year by year, when you are suddenly faced with a major moral challenge, you are able to overcome it because you have trained yourself in godliness or Christlikeness.
In a sense you have built moral muscles; you’ve rewired your brain, or your soul, to respond in ways that glorify God. You develop certain attributes which reflect Christ, such as forgiveness, generosity, humility, and gratitude, and as you regularly choose to forgive, be generous, humble, and grateful, these qualities soon become part of who you are through and through. That’s the process of developing godly character. [1]
How do we bring glory to God? The Bible’s short answer is: by growing more and more like Jesus Christ. - Sinclair Ferguson
[1] Anchor Developing Christian Character —Part 1
