What is the goal of a Christian's life, and how can it be achieved?

The goal of a Christian's life is to be conformed to Jesus Christ. This means that we must fix our eyes on Him, looking away from everything else and concentrating our gaze on one thing—the goal of our race. Conformity to Christ is the only way to achieve spiritual growth, which brings us into conformity with His image. We are filled by the Holy Spirit, who leads us into conformity to Jesus Christ and energizes us with the new, resurrection life of Christ. When we are filled by the Spirit, our sin nature is rendered inoperable, and we can run toward the goal. The evidence of the filling of the Spirit will be the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We must also live in the Word, making it our priority and saturating our soul with its truth. This involves personal study above and beyond anything we do in church. As we apply the Word to our lives daily, we enter into the function of the Daniel-in-the-lions'-den kind of power—the power that brings inner rest into the midst of outer turmoil. By being filled by the Spirit and living in the Word, we can achieve conformity to Jesus Christ and fulfill God's plan for our life.