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God Constantly Grows And Refines His Children To Become More Like Christ

God's desire for His children is for them to constantly become more like His Son.

Kalisa Ann DeShields

Jan 11, 2019

Liberty University

God Constantly Grows And Refines His Children To Become More Like Christ

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Psalm 118:14 – "The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation."

One of the many beautiful things about being a child of God is that we are always becoming. We are always in a process of refinement, growth, and celebration.

The word "refinement" refers to the process of removing impurities. This is what God does every day of our lives. He is constantly making us more and more like Him. In order to do that, He makes us aware of impurities so that when we surrender them, He can remove them. Refinement is only beautiful when we make the choice to surrender.

As I have stated in other articles, growth is essential in every Christian's life. As God is refining, He is also growing - growing in us the fruits of the Spirit, such as more love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The truth is that God did not save us to leave us the way He found us. He saved us to preserve, grow, and create in us Christ, His Son.

Lastly, we are always in the process of celebration. I say that celebration is a process because it is gradual. To celebrate something means to have constant joy. A common misconception is that joy is life-based, that it only occurs when we feel happy about something. But joy and celebration can also be found in the hardest circumstances because they come from God, not from trials or tribulations.

So today, sons and daughters, as you are in the process of becoming, embrace God's desire to refine and grow you. Celebrate each step and each movement towards becoming like Christ. Live in the moment and don't ever let anyone belittle how far you have come.

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God Constantly Grows And Refines His Children To Become More Like Christ

God's desire for His children is for them to constantly become more like His Son.

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

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2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

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7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

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9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

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12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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