You Look Like Your Father

Last fall I saw some cousins I hadn’t seen since they were small children. “You look just like your dad,” I said.  “Gee, never heard that before,” he responded.

To his father I said, “You look more and more like your dad the older you get.”  “Good thing,” he said. “If I didn’t look like my dad, we’d have a slight problem, wouldn’t we?”  I chuckled at his perspective.

I thought of a friend of mine who is adopted.  People often tell him he looks just like his father, which is ironic given that the man they know as his father has no genetic link to him whatsoever. And yet, through years of living together (and possibly because people see what they want to see), they have come to look like one another.

So I started thinking about my own father.  My whole life people have told me that I look like my mother and I act like my mother, but those who know me best know that I have a healthy dose of my dad in me as well.  These thoughts went far deeper than my earthly father, though.

According to Hebrews 1:1-4… God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

He has spoken to us by His Son, who is the heir and the express image of the Father. He has purged us of our sins and sat down at the right hand of God.

In Romans 8:29-30 we read… For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The Son is the image of the Father.  I am called to be conformed to the image of the Son. I have no control over how much I physically resemble my earthly father.  I don’t hear it very often in regard to me and my father, but I know others who hear it all the time: You look like your dad. Do they get tired of hearing it, or annoyed? Is it a compliment, or an insult? I also don’t hear it as often as I'd like about me and my heavenly Father, but I have a little more control over that. He has given me the opportunity to look like Him; I desire and strive for a striking resemblance. When people look at me, I want them to see and know my Father. Through the shed blood of Christ on my behalf and the power of the resurrection, I have the opportunity to be adopted into His family and to live as an heir to His kingdom and glory. I am no longer a slave to sin, but to righteousness.  My flesh still rises up and I must contend with it, but no longer in my own strength. The Holy Spirit is my ally against a subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) foe, and the battle belongs to the Lord!

At that same event, I met some new folks. “You must be a Harner…” they said.  Even though they didn’t know me, they recognized the family resemblance…some by my physical appearance, some by my behavior, some by my sense of humor. I differ slightly from each member in the rest of my family, but at the core I am one of them.  And I am recognizable as such.

Acts 11:26c says… the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

This became the distinguishing name of followers of Christ; they were given the name of their great Master because they took Christ for their teacher, following His doctrine. Prior to this they were called disciples or scholars, but in Antioch they first were given and took on the name of Christ, believing His promises and following His precepts and example. They were known not for their own traits or characteristics, but for the traits of their family – Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

In my own family, we are separated by physical distance, cultural differences and personal taste. We have many different gifts or abilities that sometimes seem odd to the others, but we are kin and bonded by blood.

So too in my church family – some are separated by physical distance, cultural differences and personal taste. We have many different gifts, but are all part of the same body (I Corinthians 12). We are bonded by blood... Christ's. We can choose to embrace those differences, allowing them to enrich and strengthen the body, adding depth and giving glory to God.  Or we can choose to accentuate the differences, dividing the body into sectors and giving preference to some over others. The problem is that division dishonors Christ. Let’s abolish the aisle that divides us, give up our seat, tear down the walls. Let’s focus on the fruit that unites us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5). Let’s take the family bond and care for widows and orphans (James 1:27). Let’s be prepared, in season and out, to preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2), knowing that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

I’ve been redeemed, adopted, given a new name. And my heart’s desire is to see this family grow and grow and grow, until one day we are united at the largest and loudest family reunion you can imagine:

Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothes with white robes, with palm branches in their hand, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  

(Revelation 7:9-10)

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."