One day, Christ came to be made in the likeness of man (Phil. 2:6-8). Man was made according to Christ's image, and Christ was made in the likeness of man. Isn't this wonderful? Who is according to whom? It is mutual. Man was made according to Christ, and Christ was made in the likeness of man that through His death and resurrection man may obtain God's life. It is a mystery; yet, it is a fact. Hallelujah! We have all obtained this life.
Because we have this divine life, we can be transformed into and conformed unto the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29m). Here we have two things—transformation and conformation. Transformation is inward and conformation is outward.
We have an intellect, emotion, and will, which were made according to Christ. Christ, no doubt, has the best intellect, the best will, and the best emotion. Our intellect, will, and emotion are not very real. Consider again the illustration of the hand and the glove. The human hand has a thumb and four fingers, and the glove also has a thumb and four fingers. We cannot deny that the thumb of a glove is a thumb, but compared with the real thumb we find a great difference. Compare our intellect with the intellect of Christ. Our intellect resembles the empty thumb of a glove. Christ's intellect resembles the real thumb of a human hand. We have wisdom, but again our wisdom is like the empty thumb and Christ's wisdom is like the real thumb. One day, however, the real thumb will get into the thumb of the glove and the two thumbs will become one! One is the appearance, the expression; the other is the reality, the content. Our wisdom is simply the container of the wisdom of Christ, the expression of the wisdom of Christ. Do you have love? Yes, we all have love, but our love is like an empty glove. Wives, don't expect love from your husbands. Even if your husband loves you, that love is empty. Praise the Lord that it is empty! It is empty that the love of Christ may come in.
But it is not always easy. It may take some dealing for the love of Christ to get into us. The fingers of a glove may be twisted or bent, giving resistance to the hand that wants to get in. Likewise, we need some dealing in order that the love of Christ may get into us. One day, Christ's love enters into the empty love of the husband. At that time, you will enjoy the real love, the love of Christ, through your husband's empty love. Praise the Lord!
Whatever we have, whatever we are, and whatever we can do is just an empty form, best used as a container to hold all that Christ is, all that Christ has, and all that Christ can do.
Christ is in us. Constantly, the life of Christ is doing a transforming work within us. Our love, our emotion, and our thinking are inadequate. Nothing we have by nature is adequate because it is empty and limited. The essence, the element of Christ must enter into all that we are. The wisdom of Christ must enter our empty wisdom, giving us the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5). Our mind must be a container for the mind of Christ; the mind of Christ must fill up our mind. Then, our mind will be transformed into the image of Christ. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we all with unveiled face behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord and are transformed into His image. This is inward transformation. This inward transformation will also become the outward conformation. We will be conformed to the image of the Son of God (Rom. 8:29m).