Our lives are destined to become like the life of Jesus...Not only did Jesus come to free us from the bonds of sin and death, he also came to lead us into the intimacy of his divine life...We tend to emphasize the distance between Jesus and ourselves. We see Jesus as the all-knowing and all-powerful Son of God who is unreachable for us sinful, broken human beings. But in thinking this way, we forget that Jesus came to give us his own life...He became like us so that we might become like him. (MTN, pg. 50-55)
But there is more. Becoming like the heavenly Father is not just one important aspect of Jesus' teaching, it is the very heart of his message. The radical quality of Jesus' words and the seeming impossibility of his demands are quite obvious when heard as part of a general call to become and to be true sons and daughters of God.
As long as we belong to this world, we will remain subject to its competitive ways and expect to be rewarded for all the good we do. But when we belong to God, who loves us without conditions, we can live as He does. The great conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to this world to belonging to God. (RPS, pg. 117)
-Henri Nouwen
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