Seeing Double

Once-a-month, our church serves the homeless a lunch meal in downtown Johnson City, TN, at the Melting Pot.  One of the blessings of this journey to and from town is being accompanied by a young teen boy who attends our church and lives near us.  I love to watch him because when I do, I am seeing double.  Double?  Yes, his father.  His dad is a faithful servant of the Lord, a “full-blown” engineer at a local plant, an intentional man, one who runs from anything that would even give the impression of feminine, and dearly loves his family.  When I watch his 13 year old son, I see a young man thinking like his dad, walking like his dad, dressing like his dad, talking like his dad, and . . . I am not surprised.  He is also the firstborn and looks up to his dad.

When someone looks at you, who do they see?  Paul said it so well in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.  How natural it is for children to act like their parents and other family members because of their natural birth and so much time spent in their presence.  How really natural it should be for those of us who have had a spiritual birth (John 3:1-17) to imitate Christ because He lives in us, and we spend time with Him in prayer, in worship, in singing, and in the memorization and meditation of the Word of God.

Colossians 1:27 – Christ in you, the hope of glory.

2 Corinthians 3:18- But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Truth is, only when a dad is imitating Christ should he be able to say to his family, “Imitate me.”  And, our desire to be like Christ should be so genuine that it creates a thirst in our family to imitate Christ. Just as exposure to the sun makes people acknowledge your tan, our exposure to the Son, Jesus Christ, should cause others to recognize Who we are imitating, Who means the most to us, and Who we are seeking first (Matthew 6:33).

Are the folks around you seeing double?

You must abide in Christ in heaven before you can descend with heavenly ability to act for Him down here. The great secret of all blessing is to come from the Lord.  Most Christians go to Him. (A. J. Gordon)