Looking like Jesus

Galatians 5:1-6

             “To become Christ-like is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.”                                          - Henry Drummond

             It is interesting when a child is born. One of the first comments from anyone is that the baby looks just like so and so. One day, they might look like mom, dad, aunt or uncle. I remember just after my oldest niece was born we were walking her in a stroller. Someone that should have known came up to us and asked if my wife and I were walking our son. We told him that no, not only was it not our son, but it was my sisters GIRL. It just so happened that my niece looked a little like me when she was born. My oldest son favored me at first and now he looks much more like the Smalley side of the family. My youngest son is an exact replica of his grandpa Frank (Oh, NO!).

One of my favorite passages of scripture is Philippians 2:5-11. I find the underlying themes of all of biblical doctrines are the fact that we desire to be like Christ. The British novelist J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "Sheep get to be like their Shepherd, it is said, but slowly." The renewal of the inner person, becoming Christ-like, is not accomplished in a  moment but a lifetime.

Augustine (354-430) observed that this process is like healing from a near-fatal wound. "It's one thing," he said, "to remove the spear, but quite another to heal the wound by long and careful treatment." This healing occurs gradually as our old ways of thinking and living are erased, and we become more like our Savior as we are renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). This renewal takes place not by        self-effort alone but by faith. It involves reading, meditating on, and obeying God's Word. We must also fix our minds on the character of Christ and ask God to make us like Him.

Then we must wait, confident that God is working in us to accomplish His purposes. Every day has its mishaps and memories of something we should have done or not done, but we must not be impatient. Though incomplete, we are in process. Sin may frustrate us for a day, but God is at work—and on ahead lies perfection, which is "the hope of righteousness" (Galatians 5:5).