Looking Like Me

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:31-35 ESV). Aaron now has a beard. I’ve had mine for a long time; both David and Kyle have worn a beard for quite some time. Now that Aaron has grown his, more and more people will be telling him, “You sure look like your Dad.” Truthfully he does look a lot like me, with or without the beard. Some time ago I found an old picture of me when I was in high school. Comparing it to Aaron, it was as if I was looking at a mirror image! That’s really true of every parent and child to some degree. It may be the shape of the eyes or the body type; regardless, we all have those features that make us look like our parents. We inherit many of their physical features automatically. That brings me to a thought for today: How closely do we resemble our Heavenly Father? When people look at me do they recognize me as His child? Our reading today says there is one thing that identifies us as followers of Christ – our love. People will identify us as Christians, if our lives reflect our Father’s love. What does this love look like? It is resting in God’s peace during times of stress. It is forgiving our enemies and praying for them rather than seeking revenge or harboring anger. It is being kind and patient with others even when they are not. It is putting the needs of others before our own. 1 Corinthians 13 paints a clear picture of this type of love in action. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). When we exhibit this type of love, people notice these qualities because they are not the world’s typical responses. These behaviors do not originate from our sinful natures. On our own, we could never love others as God does. This type of love can only come from the Holy Spirit. It is when we love others the way that Christ does that we most look like Him. Let’s try to live our lives in such a way that others will say, “You look just like your Father.”