This week I have been teaching at Bergen Bible School. The students are a fine group of mainly young people who have given themselves to study the Word of God a full year. Together with many servants of God I have been teaching at the Bible School from the very beginning since I took the initiative to start the Bible School together with Noralv Askeland. During the years the school has produced many leaders that are serving God in a multitude of capacities in society and the church in many nations.
My subject this week has been character formation. Two Bible verses are very central in this teaching:
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29
And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more. 2 Corinthians 3:18
In all the expressions used in the Bible for becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, the underlying purpose in God’s saving work is to make us like Jesus. We also find that this is a lifelong process. It is a growth process. This is what we have been looking at this week. I hope I soon will be given the opportunity to finish my teaching by describing Jesus, by painting a spiritual portrait, so to say of how he showed himself to be through his life and death and resurrection.