Do you look like your Dad?

As I age, I hear this comment often: “You look just like your Dad.”  I really don’t, but I do share his vocation, some of his mannerisms, a similar laugh, and my voice sounds much like his.  Our shared DNA and our many years of relationship impressed him into my brain and though I make no conscious attempt to be like him, apparently I am! People for whom he cared as a pastor for decades sometimes transfer their memories to me. I am glad to ‘bear his image’ and continue the work of ministry that shaped so much of his life. (It’s hard to believe that he stepped into eternity 15 years ago last Monday.)

Here is a question worthy of our reflection - do I bear the image of my Heavenly Father to friends, families, and co-workers?

We were created in His image, made to be like Him. Oh yes, that image was marred by disobedience, the intimacy with God broken by sin. However, we know that through Christ Jesus the image of God is restored in us. He gives us the privilege of knowing God, loving God, and becoming more and more like Him.  The inspired Word says “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV)  When we take time to worship (individually and together), when we allow the Word to shape our thoughts, when the Holy Spirit is invited to change us, inside out, we gain the amazing privilege of being ‘Jesus with skin on.’ 

Christianity is often focused on externals - certain ethical and moral choices or religious practices. Those choices are not wrong, but they are not the essence of bearing the likeness of Jesus in this world. Our faithfulness to church activities is not likely to cause others to ask the reason for our hope. But, when our daily lives are marked with love for others, by a deep peace in this chaotic world, by forgiveness and a gentle spirit, by a hope that transcends the disappointments of this present existence, we are ‘being transformed into His likeness’ and Jesus’ beauty becomes visible to people who live around us. This is my desire - that Jesus is seen in me.

There is another amazing thing that happens as we ‘become like our Heavenly Father.’  We gain a quiet confidence, a godly authority over evil!  Moses was sent to the court of Pharoah to state God’s desire to take the Israelites out of Egypt, freeing them from slavery.  He was fearful of this mission, for good reason. He was going to stand before a man others considered a god, a man who was the most powerful person in that part of the ancient world who could order his execution without the blink of an eye.  Moses acknowledges his weakness and inability.

"Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country." (Exodus 7:1-2, NIV) "And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”" (Exodus 7:5, NIV)   Moses faced many difficulties and failed more than once. The divine authority conferred on him by God did not make him super-human, nor did it exempt him from ordinary hardships. But, God did the miraculous through him, causing him to form a new nation even as he led them from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Spirit-filled Christians share that privilege of leading others from darkness to light, from slavery to evil to spiritual freedom, from death to to life. We don’t do with great personal charisma, through blinding brilliance of intellect, or with grand strategies of human programs.  The work is done by people who are filled with Spirit of God, enjoying the quiet confidence of the godly!  This is the truth- "We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God. He is the one who has enabled us to represent his new covenant. This is a covenant, not of written laws, but of the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, NLT)   

There is no need to go about blowing trumpets of our own making. We need not act as religious nuts, screaming at evil and rebuking the Devil, to accomplish God’s work.  We just live in His goodness letting His Presence overflow from us.  And others will begin to say - “He looks just like His Father!”

The word from the Word today is the prayer Jesus prayed for us just before He went to the Cross. May His prayer cause us to desire to reflect His goodness more and more. “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. And all of them, since they are mine, belong to you; and you have given them back to me, so they are my glory! Now I am departing the world; I am leaving them behind and coming to you. Holy Father, keep them and care for them—all those you have given me—so that they will be united just as we are." (John 17:9-11, NLT)  "Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth. As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world." (John 17:17-18, NLT)  Amen!

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Oh To Be Like Thee

 

Oh to be like Thee

Blessed Redeemer

This is my constant

Longing and prayer

Gladly I'll forfeit

All of earth's treasures

Jesus Thy perfect

Likeness to wear

 

Oh to be like Thee

Oh to be like Thee

Blessed Redeemer

Pure as Thou art

Come in Thy Sweetness

Come in Thy Fullness

Stamp Thine own Image

Deep on my heart

 

Oh to be like Thee

Full of compassion

Loving forgiving

Tender and kind

Helping the helpless

Cheering the fainting

Seeking the wandering

Sinner to find

 

Oh to be like Thee

While I am pleading

Pour out Thy Spirit

Fill with Thy Love

Make me a temple

Meet for Thy Dwelling

Fit me for life

And Heaven above

Oh to be like Thee

Lowly in spirit

Holy and harmless

Patient and brave

Meekly enduring

Cruel reproaches

Willing to suffer

Others to save

 

Oh to be like Thee

Lord I am coming

Now to receive

The anointing divine

All that I am

And have I am bringing

Lord from this moment

All shall be Thine

Thomas Obediah Chisholm

Public Domain

Come, Follow Me

One year ago I was privileged to spend 10 days touring the ancient sites in Israel. Each day I followed our guide. Hela led the adventures, explaining the meaning of what we were seeing, setting historical context, offering insight. I’m sure I could have rented a vehicle, used a GPS, and found the same places but my understanding would have been so much less without that little lady who walked at a brisk pace out in front of our group!  I was thrilled to be her ‘disciple’ for that week, learning as much I could from her expertise.

Jesus says “Come, follow me!” The invitation is not just about taking an interest in Him. It is about becoming His disciple, devoted to Him, willingly aligning our lives to His teaching, trusting Him when the Way ahead is hidden to us. We cannot ignore the call to self-denial that comes with His leadership.

He says it simply:  “No one can love two masters!”  Will we adopt the attitude of those first followers? "At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him." (Mark 1:18-21, NIV)   So often we only hear of the ‘cost’ of being His follower. There certainly is a price to be paid but there are rich rewards, a kind of life found in Him that cannot be discovered in any other way.  He says that in Him we find “abundant life,” life in its fullest now and hope of eternal life.

Will you take His invitation to an adventure? There will be some uphill climbs through discouragement, times when you overflow with sweet joy, mountain top moments as His Presence settles over you.  There will be rocky stretches where He will call you on urging you to ‘press on!’   The key through it all is this - Follow!  I urge you to pray something like this: “Father, help me to find You, to follow You, and to show Your goodness in my life. Give me wisdom to say Yes to the Best! Keep me on faithfulness.”

Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi, urging them to follow in his footsteps in an adventure with God, the Holy Spirit. He had made Christ Jesus his Lord and followed Him. Was he flawless in that choice?  He can answer for himself.  "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection!  

His discipleship was a work in progress.  “But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.” (Philippians 3:12-15, NLT)   “I press on!”

John Bunyan, a devout free Christian in 17^th century England, gave us a classic- Pilgrim’s Progress. This man, barely educated beyond the ability to read and write, wrote of Christian’s journey to the Celestial City. In vivid metaphor, Bunyan writes of the journey through the Slough of Despond, along the Wall of Salvation, in the Valley of Humiliation, into the town of Vanity, including a visit to Doubting Castle, and through the Delectable Mountains.  In the quaint language of the time he reminds us of the necessity of pressing on!

“This hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend.
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up, heart; let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

 Let’s journey on! Remember to ‘keep step with the Spirit, since we live by the Spirit.’  This adventure is not a solo hike.  Travel with those who share your love of the Savior. Together, we will discover the fullness of the life for which we were created as well as God’s rich grace for each day. 

 Meditate on these words of Jesus that speak of the intimate relationship that empowers His followers. The word from the Word calls. Let’s go. Adventure awaits! "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted!

My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love." (John 15:5-10, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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He Leadeth Me

He leadeth me O blessed thought

O words with heavenly comfort fraught

Whate'er I do where'er I be

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me

 

He leadeth me He leadeth me

By His own hand He leadeth me

His faithful follower I would be

For by His hand He leadeth me

Sometimes 'mid scenes of deepest gloom

Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom

By water's calm o'er troubled sea

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me

 

Lord I would clasp Thy hand in mine

Nor ever murmur nor repine

Content whatever lot I see

Since 'tis my God that leadeth me

And when my task on earth is done

When by Thy grace the victory's won

E'en death's cold waves I would not flee

Since Thou through Jordan leadeth me

 

 

William Batchelder Bradbury

Words: Public Domain