In His Likeness w/ AntTBri

There is much talk about the “next level “in Christendom.  People of faith are always aspiring to be more like Jesus in attitude and attribute.  The objective of every believer should be to be better…the best representation of life and love lived in God’s likeness.  We should be intentionally proactive in our progression of faith.  Are there levels of faith? Do we start off in the shallow end and end up iN the Deep End Dance (through, in and with the Holy Spirit)?  Is life and love a triathlon…a sequence of events that requires us to expend energy, prove endurance, and equate distance advantageously?

If so, one could easily visualize life in love vertically as in” the glass is half full” experiences and expressions.  In this case the “next level” would attest to Capacity…the substance contained within.  Imagine that, people could actually view our glass and see the level at which we experience and express God vertically, externally. Are we registering and ranking as Spirit-filled or Spirit-empty?  Is there a definitive line of demarcation that separates the level line of a believer from that of an unbeliever?  Or does the way we depict life and love blend, mesh, and intermingle as the same guideline (life and love lived out in self-effort) through the measuring glass view?

Maybe the shallow level of faith is best described by the limitations of our capacity to contain or hold the Word being poured into us. Maybe those markings registering low spiritually attest to the level at which we live and love in, with, and through the fullness of our human selves.   If so, the next level for the believer would rank higher as we accept, acknowledge, and acclimate to God’s Truth as our standard of practice. Now that would justify the claim that Christians are iN Deep end dance mindsets, mannerisms, and movements.  There should be a measurable level to the depth of one’s faith…otherwise how can we grow, increase, and be filled the more with God’s Spirit (so we can effectively live and love in His Likeness)…that others may see, experience, and express love and life in the very same manner?  What an awesome testimony of faith (life and love) that would be… is this the idea depiction of going to, entering, and living and loving at the next level for the believer? If so, the glass of our lives would reflect that we are in Deep and the celebration would end in the dance of life and love lived in His Likeness.

Levels are determined by lines of demarcation on a measuring glass vertically or depicted horizontally by the marking of lengths on a ruler or yardstick. They are identifiable units of measure for the believer and unbeliever.   Proof, evidence, recordable data that can be verified, replicated, and reconfigured as time progresses.  Despite the arguable differences noted in the diversity of our chosen paths of faith explorations… we seem to share the desire and fear of not measuring up to the idea expectation, experience and expression of life and love.

So what, if anything, separates our mannerism, motivation, and mission of achievement(s)?  Could it be the level of character development? Should we be measuring how close we come to reflecting God like characteristics (attributes) as we live and love?  Is this, the qualifier of judgment (observe the definable attitude adjustments) made to live and love in His likeness?  How should we and others measure our levels of success?  Maybe W.W.J.D. (what would Jesus do?) was meant to be more than a acronym, question, catchy phrase or brand.  Maybe the concept applied is the next level for the lifestyle of the believer as s/he participates in the race.  We are continually undergoing character development despite the event of life and love. Is it possible to become more and more like Jesus in our attitudes through our experience as we become His expression of what life and love in Him is… (as His attributes develop whole) while we race?  If so, the next level for the believer would be in the becoming…in the being like Jesus… which clarifies and is the standard or rule of thumb in how Christians are to live and love in God’s likeness in lifes triathlon event.

Jesus is our only comparison…competition… consultant on life and love lived out in God’s likeness.  So the length of our strides should never be measured by the yards of distance (experience or expression) of ourselves or others accomplished outside or beyond the boundaries (guidelines) of the standard. We must learn to definitively address, adhere and BE accountable to the truth we profess and practice iN deep end danc(ing). The process is continual so the tense is always changing.   Maybe the next level is most adequately achieved by the line that is drawn as we adhere to the characteristics of Jesus Christ as revealed through the testaments of the Word.

Imagine that, as we live and love in His likeness others could visibly see the strength of our strides as we walk with and in accordance to Christ. They along with us can measure the distance of our faith swim, cycle, and walk (run) as we become proficient in living and loving in His likeness with them through the development of our attitude and His attributes.

In the first scenario of our discussion we were privy to the vertical view of living and loving in alignment to our connectedness to God.  We were reminded that the glass of our life serves as a mirror reflecting the capacity (level) of our faith.   How much of God can we contain as we live in love in His Likeness? It is my prayer that we’re registering, ranking, and revealing FULL levels of love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control, kindness, temperance etc.  That we are experiencing and expressing iN deep end dance fruits of the Spirit as we live and love.  May our celebration of levels be in measuring the depths of our capacity to image God as we live and love in HIS likeness juxtapose to our good intentions, intellect, and incredulous inventions of self effort.

In the later scenario we were given the opportunity to see the advantage of measuring the length of one’s character development as s/he asserts the iN deep end dance with, in, and through the workings of the Holy Spirit.  Freedom from the binds and bounds of sin in life and love lived in HIS likeness was found to be beneficial  when one choose to draw and walk the line of holiness as depicted in the standard of the Word.  We were admonished to chart our progression of levels as we live and love with people horizontally by the analogy of the ruler or yardstick and acronym of W.W.J.D.  We were reminded that every race uses the measurement of distance traveled to determine the qualification of the prize despite the type of event. The life and love of the believer is no different… we have a start and a finish/goal line…measuring the level of our achievement and attainment.  The event of life and love may be different in experience and expression but the manner in which we go the distance is definitive, distinguishable and definite to how close or far we register and rank from the measurement of standard? May the iN deep end dance we accept, acknowledge, and acclimate be governed ONLY by the ruler or yard stick found in the Word.   May the strength of our stride measure in length to our character development in Christ?

Life and love can and will manifest as a triathlon as we continue to live and love in His likeness. There will be events of life and love… measurements and levels that are detectable, defined, and determined by our reception, response, and representation of the Word’s realities.   Sometimes our race becomes a series of three different life and love events… causing us to swim in waters above or below our heads. It is during these times that we experience highs and lows in life and love.  We cycle through turbulent terrains and run the race that is set before us…proving, posturing and positioning us in the actuality of our said faith.

Believers live in love advantageously at every level because in all these things (in, during, and after EVERY EVENT) we are granted, given, and graced with the challenge (opportunity) to do life and love AGAIN.  Everyday registers and ranks NEW…a definitive, definable, distinguishable vote of confidence that the Spirit’s collaboration will produce the image of God’s likeness in life and love as we experience and express it with each other. (Thank you dear Jesus!!!)  Triathlon or not it is still our goal as believers to RE PRE SENT CHRIST correctly as we live and love.  The increase in levels and incentive for GROWTH in the believer is ALWAYS the prize…in the attainment of the highest level of well done my good and faithful servant.  Imagine that, living and loving in a manner that honors and pleases the heart of God.  Is it possible to live and love to please God?

The glass of our lives and the grace of the standard both qualify and quantify the measure of how we live and love in HIS Likeness while swimming, cycling, and running the race.   So, I prose some questions to those of us who profess a lasting, living, and loving relationship with Jesus Christ: when we’re discussing, thinking in terms of, and attempting life and love in God’s likeness” do we draw a line, or chart our course vertically and horizontally as we live and love?  How are we doing… what are our stats?  What is the glass or graph of our life and love depicting…baseline, lows and highs, the fluctuations of our humanity or the peaks of our spiritual growth and development?” I want the evidence to my living and loving in His Likeness to eradicate the dips of my-“self” effort and illuminate off the chart markings of Spiritual development and Spirit lead determinates of life and love. The next level of my living and loving independent of this world’s system, standard, and statue is to live and love in His likeness…both vertically and horizontally in the deep end dance of salvation, sanctification, and submission… as it is mirrored and  measured through God’s Word.  Happy triathlon to all that aim to Believe, Become, and Be the experience and expression of God’s love in, through every event of life and love~AntTBri