This article continues on from the Predestined To article.

The Greek word proorizo speaks of being predesigned according to a defined plan more than it speaks of being predestined to a certain fate. Predestination is not a question of destiny but of identity. As God’s creation, we are predesigned with a definite purpose. So what is God’s design for our lives?

In His Image

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…”

Romans 8:29

For those whom He foreknew, He also predesigned to become conformed to the image of His Son…

In the beginning, God created people in His image and according to His likeness. And His design has never changed. God has designed us to bear His image in the world. As such, we are not special just because we are designed by God; we are special because of the nature of our design. As an artist, God has created us as His self-portrait. He has designed us at our very core to be infused with His life and nature so that we may truly express His image in the world. And that sets us apart from all other creation.

So from the beginning God designed us to be conformed to His image. But how do we know that being conformed to the image of Christ is a reality that we can experience in this life? How can we be sure that God’s design is not just a part of our future destiny in heaven?

 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (emphasis added)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

When the word proorizo is translated as predestined, it implies that our conformation into the image of Christ is a reality that we only experience in our future spiritual destiny. Yet here we see that we are being transformed into the image of Christ. Thus our transformation into His image is not just a part of our future destiny but rather it can be our present reality. The Holy Spirit can transform us now as we behold the glory of God. Therefore we do not need to wait for the future in order to experience our true design in God. From glory to glory, we can start being conformed to the image of Christ now.

Conformed to His Image

Image: eikon

From 1503/eíkō, “be like” – properly, “mirror-like representation,” i.e. that which is very close in resemblance (like a “high-definition” projection, as defined by the context). Image (#1504) exactly reflects its source. For example, Christ is the very image (#1504 “supreme expression”) of the Godhead (see 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). (HELPS Word-studies)

Conformed: sýmmorphos

Properly, conformed, by sharing the same inner essence-identity (form); showing similar behavior from having the same essential nature. (HELPS Word-studies)

To be conformed to the image of Christ means that the very nature of Jesus is formed within us.[i] In an actual literal way, the nature of God is infused into our hearts and we are transformed from within. Through His love and grace our hearts are entirely renewed.

It is only as we are transformed inwardly that we can begin to exactly reflect the image of Jesus outwardly. The fruit comes from the root and so in His design God looks beyond actions to the heart.[ii] He forms His nature in our hearts so that the life of Christ is revealed naturally through our word and actions.[iii] In this way, God changes us from the inside out.

Unity by Design

John 17:20-23

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Here Jesus prays that the Father would make us one with Christ so that the world may know that the Father has sent Jesus and that He loves us in the same way that He loves Jesus.

If we took a minute to meditate on the Father’s love for Jesus, how would we describe that love? We could say that His love is consummate, perfect, intimate, intense, unfailing, unchanging, overwhelming, consuming, uniting, unbreakable, extravagant, immersive, pure and in every way beyond comprehension. Yet none of these words really do justice to the Father’s love. His love for Jesus is a reality that far exceeds the greatest love that we could ever dream of. It is the divine and eternal Love of Love.

Love for Us

In John 17, Jesus reveals that God has loved us with the same love that He has for Jesus. The all-consuming, indescribable and infinite love of the Father for the Son is the same love that the Father has for us.[iv] The Father loves us with the same intensity, passion and purity that He loves Jesus. And just as the perfect love of God demands the unity of the Father and Son, so God’s love calls us to become one with Him.[v]

1 Corinthians 6:17

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

Our call to become one with Christ is a call to return to our original design. Unity with Christ is an essential aspect of living in our design for we cannot bear the image of Christ apart from Him. He is His image. We are simply designed to be living vessels of the divine nature and life of Christ. So in the same way that we can only truly love when the love of God is present within us, so we can only bear the image of Christ when we are filled with the Spirit of Jesus and we are made one with Christ.

This article has been taken from chapter two of the Living Image book, which is available at now Amazon and will be available on other platforms from August 2013. For more information on Living Image or to receive an email reminder when it is released in August, please contact us.