Just Like Daddy

"Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them."  Genesis 1:26-27

Yesterday was the official Halloween experience for our kids.  To say they had a good time would be an understatement.  They really had a blast getting to know the neighborhood a bit better as they went door-to-door gathering candy.  On my end, I was really surprised how few kids actually came to our door.  It was a nice opportunity to show our distant neighbors who actually lives here now, and that we are nice and normal people.   But what totally made the day, was as I was crawling into bed last night, I was thinking about the huge grins on my kids faces.  And I thought about them in their costumes, and I had a sudden thought that reminded me of these verses above.

See, they dressed up as their daddy last night.  They put on construction gear and dirtied their faces and dresses up as Daddy.  It just totally reminded me last night that "being like Daddy" is something that we should be striving for every single day.  We were created in God's image.  That means, that already, there's some measurement of us that already resembles God, the Father.   We should strive everyday to become more and more like God, because we already resemble Him somewhat.  But how do we do that? We follow the way our older brother Jesus lived His life.

"Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."  John 5:9

And why is it that we should want to be more like God every day?  What is it that gives us a reason to want to do that- we're already saved and going to heaven if we have accepted Jesus into our lives and hearts.  The truth is, there is more for us to do here on earth before our time to go to heaven.

"Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”  John 8:19

That verse right there shows me every reason why we should strive to become more like our Father in heaven.  So that those around us can see Him when they see us. So that we can be a light in the darkness for those who need to see and know the light.  That's ultimately why we participated in the neighborhood activity yesterday- to be a light in the darkness.  And what do people see now when they see us?  Our goal should be to have people say to us that there's something about us that makes them want to spend more time with us.  What an opportunity right there to say that we know what it is about us- it's Jesus in our hearts and lives that fills us with hope and love.  So much that we can't help but give some of it away, or we feel as if we'll burst from holding it in. 

Jesus was just like His Father while He was here on earth.  Now it's our turn to do what we can to strive for the exact same thing.  We should all want to be just like Daddy.