Not Self-Made, but Made in the Image of Christ

During his fiery yet ultimately fizzled campaign, former Presidential Candidate Herman Cain trumpeted that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. An ordained Baptist Minister, he certainly possessed an overflowing charisma, one in sharp contrast to a frozen front-runner, at least to the media, and the other tongue-tied candidates who did not command any long-term following.

Sadly, he sunk his ministry when he later claimed that he was a "self-made man."

In Christ, we are not self-made anything. For the believer, Christ is made all things for us:

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1: 30)

How does this happen? Through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit:

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14: 16-18)

It is the Holy Spirit who births Christ within us (Galatians 4: 9):

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

"[Christ] we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" (Colossians 1: 27-28)

Christ lives in every believer, and it is He who makes us perfect:

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)

We are transformed from glory to glory by the Power of the Holy Spirit, not our own actions:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

The Holy Spirit brings Christ into us, it is the Holy Spirit who transform us from glory to glory to be more like Christ. In no wise is any believer ever a "self-made man."