Can You See The Family Resemblance?
Dear Friends,
One Sunday morning after the church service I was chatting over coffee with a lady and a mutual friend. When she saw Jess she said that my daughter looks just like me and my friend added that we have the same character too. She's not the first one to say how much my daughter looks like me. I know that on several occasions I've said to Josh, my son, "Oh, you're just like your father!" when he acts in a certain way. It's no surprise that there are these family resemblances, after all, being family means we have the same DNA. People also say that you become like the person you live with.
Not only do we all have a physical family, when we become Christians God gives us a spiritual family too, he adopts us into his family and we become children of God. "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." Ephesians 1:5 (NLT). With our adoption God also gives us new life, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17(NLT) and with our new life he gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit living within us, his DNA, if you like, "And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him." Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT).
Just as Jess, my daughter, resembles me in character, we too, as sons and daughters of God, are to resemble Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:29 we read "God, in his foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers [and sisters]. He chose them long ago; when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight, and then lifted them to the splendour of life as his own sons [and daughters]." (Phillips)
People should be able to see Jesus in you and me as they look at look at us, as they watch the way we behave, the way we speak and the way we are with our spiritual family. For some, we will be the only Jesus that they get to see and this should motivate us to resemble him more and more. As we learn more and more how much God loves us, we also grow to love him more deeply and as our love for him grows, we will love others as God loves them and they will begin to recognise it as God's love in us. By loving others we are living our life as Jesus lived his. "We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." 1 John 4:16-17 (NLT)
We obey God and follow his will and live as he wants us to live, not out of fear, but from our love for him. "All who keep His commandments [who obey His orders and follow His plan, live and continue to live, to stay and] abide in Him, and He in them. [They let Christ be a home to them and they are the home of Christ.] And by this we know and understand and have the proof that He [really] lives and makes His home in us: by the [Holy] Spirit Whom He has given us." 1 John 3:24 (AMP)
We have God's gift of the Holy Spirit within us and it's his work to grow us to become more like Christ. This doesn't mean we just sit back and do nothing, no, we are to work in partnership with him and we do this by providing an environment in which he can do his work. It begins with having the right attitude and choosing to submit to God, this is the healthy environment which gives him the room to grow the character of Christ in us so that we become more and more like Christ. Galatians 5:22-23 "the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence)." (Amp) Our growth is stunted when we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to do his work in us.
It's my desire this year that I will increasingly show a family resemblance to my Heavenly Father so that when people get to know me they will say "You are just like your Father, I know who's family you belong to." What's your desire?
To Think About:
Take an honest look at yourself, are you living just like Jesus? What may be hindering you from doing this? How do you think the Holy Spirit can help in this area?
Look back on your experiences over the past week or so and ask God if there's one aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) that he is wanting to grow in you? Are you willing for this to happen?
Vicki
One Sunday morning after the church service I was chatting over coffee with a lady and a mutual friend. When she saw Jess she said that my daughter looks just like me and my friend added that we have the same character too. She's not the first one to say how much my daughter looks like me. I know that on several occasions I've said to Josh, my son, "Oh, you're just like your father!" when he acts in a certain way. It's no surprise that there are these family resemblances, after all, being family means we have the same DNA. People also say that you become like the person you live with.
Not only do we all have a physical family, when we become Christians God gives us a spiritual family too, he adopts us into his family and we become children of God. "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." Ephesians 1:5 (NLT). With our adoption God also gives us new life, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17(NLT) and with our new life he gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit living within us, his DNA, if you like, "And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him." Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT).
Just as Jess, my daughter, resembles me in character, we too, as sons and daughters of God, are to resemble Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:29 we read "God, in his foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers [and sisters]. He chose them long ago; when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight, and then lifted them to the splendour of life as his own sons [and daughters]." (Phillips)
People should be able to see Jesus in you and me as they look at look at us, as they watch the way we behave, the way we speak and the way we are with our spiritual family. For some, we will be the only Jesus that they get to see and this should motivate us to resemble him more and more. As we learn more and more how much God loves us, we also grow to love him more deeply and as our love for him grows, we will love others as God loves them and they will begin to recognise it as God's love in us. By loving others we are living our life as Jesus lived his. "We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." 1 John 4:16-17 (NLT)
We obey God and follow his will and live as he wants us to live, not out of fear, but from our love for him. "All who keep His commandments [who obey His orders and follow His plan, live and continue to live, to stay and] abide in Him, and He in them. [They let Christ be a home to them and they are the home of Christ.] And by this we know and understand and have the proof that He [really] lives and makes His home in us: by the [Holy] Spirit Whom He has given us." 1 John 3:24 (AMP)
We have God's gift of the Holy Spirit within us and it's his work to grow us to become more like Christ. This doesn't mean we just sit back and do nothing, no, we are to work in partnership with him and we do this by providing an environment in which he can do his work. It begins with having the right attitude and choosing to submit to God, this is the healthy environment which gives him the room to grow the character of Christ in us so that we become more and more like Christ. Galatians 5:22-23 "the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence)." (Amp) Our growth is stunted when we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to do his work in us.
It's my desire this year that I will increasingly show a family resemblance to my Heavenly Father so that when people get to know me they will say "You are just like your Father, I know who's family you belong to." What's your desire?
To Think About:
Take an honest look at yourself, are you living just like Jesus? What may be hindering you from doing this? How do you think the Holy Spirit can help in this area?
Look back on your experiences over the past week or so and ask God if there's one aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) that he is wanting to grow in you? Are you willing for this to happen?
Vicki
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