As a child of God, you have been PREDESTINED (your destiny was set before you were born) to be “conformed to the image of His Son”!!!
When you understand GOD’s divine design for suffering, then you EMBRACE it!!!
You must have a balanced diet of training and discipline so that your whole body is ready to race.
God has a habit of disciplining our WHOLE bodies through a variety of suffering. Same goes corporately in the Body of Christ.
Maintain good running FORM through sound, disciplined training before you blow out a joint (e.g. a knee) and end up in really bad shape!
“Strive” – from diokete – means to pursue with all haste (“chasing” after), earnestlydesiring to overtake (apprehend).
“everyone” from pas – means “all” in the sense of “each (every) part that applies.” The emphasis of the total picture then is on “one piece at a time.”
How to Love Like Jesus – blog 2/13/26
To love like Jesus is to give sacrificially at personal expense, for the sake of others, especially those in need. It is to allow circumstances, not emotions, to dictate your responses. It is to act with integrity towards what you know is right (James 4:17).
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
– Ephesians 5:1-2
We are to “strive for peace” (Heb 12:14) as “imitators of God” (Eph 5:2), for He is “the God of peace” (1Th 5:23).
“holiness” – from hagiasmon [root hagios = “holy”] – means sanctification (the process of advancing in holiness); ref: the believer being progressively transformed by the Lord into His likeness (similarity of nature)
Our striving alongside God’s grace does not supplant God’s sole power in sanctification; rather, it is a call to reject the sin nature’s temptations to disobey God’s commands (starting with the Gospel and continuing as believers).
Successfully striving for peace and holiness results in God’s grace being extolled.