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See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)
In our family, my husband usually gets up first, and brings us coffee in bed—a habit of love he picked up from his father-in-law! What a sweetheart! That coffee allows me to pry my eyelids open and get my brain functioning before I have to face the demands of the day. But last week my husband was away visiting relatives. What a surprise, then, to smell coffee and open my eyes to see that my son had taken on his father’s role! Like father, like son.
In healthy families, we tend to trace those resemblances with joy. “Oh look,” we say of a newborn baby. “She looks just like her mother!” “I don’t know,” someone else says. “Those eyes are definitely her granddad’s.” Even when family members aren’t related by blood, they often pick up habits or interests that make everyone say, “I knew he was yours!”
What about the family of God, then? We, too, resemble our Father—because Jesus Christ His Son has brought us into the family through His own suffering, death, and resurrection. We who were once God’s enemies have now become God’s beloved children, completely through Jesus’ loving gift.
And with the Holy Spirit living in us, we are beginning to show a real family resemblance. This is also the gift of God! As the years pass and the Spirit continues to shape us, we look more and more like Jesus. We learn to love patiently, to forgive those who hurt us, to think before we speak, and to do those acts of love for others that make their lives better—or even possible at all. And those who pay attention may say, “Aha! I knew you were a Christian. You act like Jesus!”
When that happens, we are humbled. We know ongoing struggle with sin, and how far we have to go before we are what we long to be. But God forgives us daily, and lives with us and in us; and on the day Jesus returns we have this promise: “that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2b). And in the meantime, He keeps forgiving and cleansing and loving us. We are looking forward to seeing Him face to face.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord Holy Spirit, make me more and more like Jesus. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- Who do you know who is most like Jesus in his or her life? Why do you think so? Describe them.
- If you want to be like someone, it helps to hang around them. How can you spend time with Jesus?
- Can you make yourself like Jesus by trying really, really hard? If not, who are you trusting to do that work in you?
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