TO BE LIKE HIM WE MUST THINK AS HE THINKS. He has made it possible that we have the mind of Christ. Phil. 2:5That would enable us to think as He thinks. To know perfectly all that He knew. To speak the Word without fault or flaw. Perfect in interpretation, perfect in all utterances and most certainly perfect in all revelation. A link and oneness that can only be found in the Godhead. An accomplishment which requires a price that few are willing to pay, in spite of its extremely great reward. Jesus was obedient, which was step one and is one that all who would be like Christ must take. Furthermore He humbled Himself. The full blessing of the Lord can only be found in the humble. Then a death must occur. Not a physical death but a death to self and everything worldly. Phil. 2:8 The spiritual agony of His death on the cross is something which we may never fully understand. For Jesus, the very holiness of God, to bear the guilt of the sin of every sinner would have wrought extreme emotions in His being. The sinless one, became sin, was made to be sin, for us, that in turn we should become the righteousness of the Lord, fully cleansed, fully pardoned and living His life in this world. 2 Cor. 5:21
CEASE FROM SIN, LIVE UNTO THE LORD. A witness and testimony which must become a fact in the life of everyone who would be in the Bride of Christ. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. This was evidenced by the fact that Christ was living in Paul, and he was living by the faith of the son of God. A life of surrender, of consecration to Christ produced the Christ life in him. Gal. 2:20 A visit to the cross, being crucified with Christ means death to the carnal man. The Bride will know and understand the suffering of His crucifixion. For she will have ceased from sin, having been crucified with Christ. Peter made in understandable that those who have suffered in this manner have been freed from sin and all its entanglements. And will no longer become entangled or engaged in the lusts which are common to men but will, after crucifixion, live a life of deliverance which is most pleasing to the Lord. After all, if we love someone it is our desire to please them. 1 Peter 4:1-2.