Dear "Grace Women",

I was reading the following passage this week: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:29) I was struck with what a precious promise this is!

I confess, ladies, I don’t know a whole lot about what being conformed to the image of God’s Son means or entails, but I do know it is something I desire. When I see my own failures and sinful nature, I long to be like Christ, sometimes crying out to God to take away this sinful flesh and make me into what He would have me to be.

What is the image of Christ that we are to be conformed to? We find in Philippians a beautiful companion passage. Phil. 2:5-8 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

This passage shows us that we must “let” the mind of Christ be in us! We must take on the same attitude that Christ had when he came to earth. Christ knew he was equal with God, yet he took on himself the form of a servant and humbled himself. He became a man and a lowly one at that. He was “despised and rejected” and still was obedient unto death, even the horrible death of the cross. He became the sacrifice for you and for me! This is the mind that we are to let take control over our thinking and over our own self-will!

When I think about these verses, I feel so selfish that I have sometimes complained or been dissatisfied with my lot in life. What have I really suffered for Christ’s sake, yet He suffered all for me! Can I not live for Him who gave up all and died for me?

Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service...” God doesn’t want me dead! He wants me to be a LIVING sacrifice!

Ladies, do you feel as I do, that you have too often failed the Lord in this? My prayer this week has been, “Lord, help me to give my life back to you. Help me to allow you full control over my stubborn will. Help me to be able to say with Paul, ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ ” (Gal. 2:20)

I am thinking even now how I should be a more giving and serving wife. The passage above says Christ took upon himself the “form of a servant”. Christ humbled himself and became obedient, even to the death of the cross. Should I not humble myself and be more submissive and more giving to my husband? Should not all of us take on a more Christlike attitude in our homes and model before our children, if we have them, an humble attitude of service? Eve was created for Adam; woman was created for man, according to I Cor. 11:9, which says, “Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.” To serve and bring honor to my Lord and my Saviour, I should be more loving, giving, and serving in my marriage and in my home. Tomorrow I pray, when I pick my husbands socks up off of the floor, when I wipe smudges out of the sink and when I put away a multitude of little things for him, that I will have a more humble, Christlike spirit, “the form of a servant”.

Yes, to serve my husband IS to be like Christ!

Let’s all pray for one another.

Sincerely,
Mary Atwood