“You are what you are – but that’s not all that you are.  You are what you are, but you are not yet what you will be.”  John Ortberg

She hung on every word.  You could see in her eyes an admiration that went way beyond appreciation.  This man captivated her.  He was her dad and he meant the world to her.

As a child, she loved to sit in his lap and whisper secrets in his ear.  Some days he would tickle her until her stomach hurt from laughing, while other days he would hoist her onto his shoulders and walk over to the park to play.  Their time together was plentiful and vibrant as they shared laughs, smiles, whispers, and hugs.

They had so many memories together, and every day they would add to their collection.  Playing Barbies in the playroom, drinking tea with their pinkies extended, coloring pictures of animals – all these activities and other filled many pages in their mental photo album.

As she grew into her teens, she still loved her dad, but she enjoyed different things about him.  Instead of always playing, she just wanted to be near him.  She loved to watch him, listen to him, and she wanted to know what he thought about everything.

Whether they were watching a baseball game together, grabbing a cup of coffee at the corner shop, or catching a movie on the weekend, their times together were special.  They talked about everything important and many things that were not very important.  The older she got, the less she talked and the more she listened.

An Amazing Discovery

As she reached her twenties, she remained close to her family and especially to her father, although she was living three hours away from home.  She would visit whenever she could, and a well-timed call would get her through some confusing and difficult times.

Then it happened.  One day while she was out shopping for groceries with her roommate, she heard her father’s words.  She stopped in the aisle as she realized she had just repeated something he told her in the past.  Standing with a glazed look on her face, she realized for the first time that in many ways she was like her father.

When her roommate saw the stunned look on her face, she asked what was wrong.  Puzzled look still intact, she responded, “I’m just like my dad!”

Her friend responded, “You are the spitting image of your dad.”

For hours she quietly pondered this new realization.  Up to this point she had never analyzed herself and evaluated who she was.  But as she lay in bed that night, she couldn’t sleep.  She understood for the first time that she was very similar to her dad in many ways.

She asked herself, “How did this happen?  When and why did I become that much like my father?”

Although she fell asleep without any firm answers, she was smiling.  As her thoughts became cloudy, she was pleased to know noticeable traces of her father were within her.

How Did This Happen?

How did the father show up in his daughter?  Was it a genetic transference or something else?  The time they spent together was the mechanism that transferred the father’s attributes to his daughter and in many ways helped her become a replica of the one she had admired since birth.  Each of them was intertwined with the other.

Over the years his opinions shaped hers.  Her personality became a refection of his.  His philosophy of life and his disposition began to resonate through her, and her makeup became almost identical to his.

Taking On His Attributes

Just as this daughter discovered she had become like her father in many ways, so children of God begin to resemble their heavenly Father as they grow up in and with him.  Time spent with him is the mechanism by which you will begin to notice transformation within you.  As you faithfully take time to get to know God, you will look like him in many ways.

                  Your Worldview Will Begin To Change

It was the summer of 1990 and although I was one of two leaders on this trip, this was my first missions experience.  We were young youth pastors with a lot of energy and not much experience, but we were taking forty teenagers into Mexico.  The majority of them had never been out of the country.

Traveling on a slow bus that had given us problems ever since we left Colorado, we were heading through San Diego.  The colors were vibrant and the scenery was beautiful.  Everywhere we looked we saw testimonies of wealth displayed in huge homes and expensive cars.

We rod along amazed at the sights, not knowing that in just a few minutes we would be amazed for the exact opposite reason.  Instead of being caught off guard by the abundance, we were going to be floored by the poverty.

Just a few miles outside the city limits of San Diego is the U.S.-Mexican border.  Mike, the other youth pastor, and I decided we should get our young people praying.  Approaching the border, we outlawed talking on the bus and told them to pray quietly.

The border patrol didn’t give us any trouble, and we crossed over easily.  Immediately we noticed a change.  Just a few miles back we had witnessed the comfort and extravagance of the United States; now we were face to face with poverty that most of us had never seen before.

Instead of expensive homes just off the freeway, we saw people sitting next to cardboard boxes.  That is what they called home.  The cars did not look good either.  They were sputtering along potholed roads, paint missing and rust everywhere.

We sat there, soaking in all of the changes, when we began to notice dogs wandering along the road looking half dead and half starved.  Several small dogs lay wounded or dead alongside the road as well.  The children were malnourished and dirty.  The adults were dressed in yesteryear fashions.

Forty of us sat in complete silence as our hearts broke.  We were so used to living our selfish lives and complaining whenever we didn’t have the newest fashions, cars, or homes; we never knew anything like this.

Our perspectives began to change.  With every person we passed, a little bit of our selfishness died.  We wanted to reach out to them.  Within a few hours we learned their poverty was not limited to their material possessions, but it was in their spiritual lives as well.

This trip to Mexico started with forty spoiled Americans who had never thought much about things that had no real consequence for anyone other than themselves.  It ended with a group who had a heart for the less fortunate, both spiritually and financially.  It was a great trip that I have never forgotten.  It changed my worldview.  In Matthew we read, “Jesus went through all of the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’” (vv. 9:35-38).

I pictured Jesus seeing the hurting, poverty-stricken, and leaderless people and his heart breaking.  He knew that before his disciples could impact the world, they must see it the way he did.

I picture him pointing out those without homes, with the physical effects of leprosy, the ones that were outcast, the ones that had been wounded by religious people.  As he walked with his disciples, he shared his burdens, and they began to adopt them as their own.

The disciples used to live selfishly, but as they walked with Jesus, they saw what he saw.  And it moved them to action.  The burdens were too big to ignore and the needs too great to overlook.

                  Your Convictions Will Become Stronger

Peter was unbelievable.  People who were not in the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples must have been in awe that this loudmouthed, hot-tempered, over-anxious fisherman was a part of Jesus’ pack.

Peter was a man of extremes and opinions that sometimes hit the opposite ends of the spectrum in a matter of seconds.  There was the time he told Jesus he was not willing to let the Master wash his feet only to change his mind after Jesus’ explanation, declaring that he needed his whole body washed (John 13:8-9).  There was the time he said he would go with Jesus anywhere.  He declared his commitment was bigger than his fear of death (Matthew 26:33-35).  But just a few hours later, he was cursing at someone because she accused him of knowing Jesus (Matthew 26:69-74).

The tell-all sign about Peter’s makeup came when Jesus issued a solid rebuke by telling him that Satan was using him to try and distract him from God’s plan.  “Get behind me, Satan,” Jesus said (Matthew 16:23).

Those are four words I would not want to have directed at me by someone I appreciated and respected, yet Peter heard them.

He was rough around the edges in the beginning.  He lacked poise, discipline, and discernment.  Yet he matured as he meditated on the things he had seen and heard Jesus do and say.  And there came a time when Peter’s convictions were stronger than his previous outbursts.  Somewhere along the way he had learned some lessons and received his Master’s philosophy.

He writes, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Peter 1:13-14).

Had Peter not responded to Jesus’ invitation to walk with him and get to know him, he would not have taken on this train of thought.  His convictions would not have changed had he not spent time with Jesus.  This was not the only place where his convictions became strong; it was visible in all areas of his life.

                  Your Attitudes Will Become Like His

Only when we spend time with Jesus can we begin to adopt his philosophies and attitudes.  When we live apart from him only hearing about him from the preacher and only experiencing his presence in a church service, we continue to approach life the way we always have.  Our selfish nature reigns and our arrogance dominates.

However, by sitting at his feet, reading his word, and embracing his presence, we give him access to our attitudes.

Jordan grew up in my youth ministry.  My first memories of him were of him challenging someone to a fight.  He was angry and bitter.  His past was littered with fights, and he had even spent some time in a psychiatric ward when he went through a period of intense struggling.  His family had a history of violence and criminal activity.  But Jordan was not anchored to those attitudes and emotions.  He wanted to be free.

When he began coming to our church, he met Jesus, and he fell in love.  As he began to grow, he realized it was time he began to have daily time alone with God.  As he started, something noticeable began to happen in his life.  He became softer and more gentle.   He was easier to get along with, and he became more patient.

He did not realize his life was changing because he was too close to the situation.  But everyone who had known him before was marveling at how God was operating in his life.  He was getting a handle on his anger, and other “rough edges” in his life became less abrasive.

I watched Jordan’s attitudes become more like those of Jesus.  And I’ve seen this happen with many others too.  When people are willing to spend time with God and let his presence invade their lives, their attitudes become more like his.

                  Your Sin Life Will Decrease

The same way darkness flees when you turn on a light, sin cannot exist in the Lord’s presence.  God’s presence chokes sin, crushes it.  If you are living in his presence at his feet, your sin life will decrease.

Growing up, I struggled with many things that other young Christians have wrestled with since the beginning of time.  Some of my sins were in my thought life, while others came out of my mouth.  Oh, and then there was that problem I had with stealing.

For years I knew that my habits were wrong, but I was unable to break free from these things.  However, while in my mid-teens, I made a decision to spend time with God every day.  Seven days a week I would read the Bible and spend time in prayer.  I was doing all I could to avoid missing any days.  I made a conscious effort to know what God thought about things.  I tried to love what he loved and hate what he hated.

Within a few months, I looked in the mirror and realized that my sin was decreasing.  I began to realize that all of my personal pep talks had done no good, but spending time with God had helped shave off some of my negative habits.  I was thrilled with the results.  Not only did I get to know who God was, I also had victory in these personal areas.

Every time you draw near to God, you are giving him permission to do surgery on you – to cut off things that are not pleasing to him and to shape you into who he wants you to be.

Family Resemblance

Just today I had lunch with a young man, Shawn, who resembles his father.  They don’t necessarily look alike, but their actions, words, enunciation, and they way they think are similar.  While sitting across from him, my jaw dropped as he gestured during a story just the way his father would have.

Do you think this is genetic?  Just because Shawn has the same DNA as his dad, is this why they move alike, think alike, and share many other similarities?

I don’t think so!  My guess is that if he had been separated from his dad at birth, they would not share many mannerisms at all.  Even if he had heard a great deal about his father, this would not have been enough information to wrap their identities together as tightly as they are.  The reason they resemble one another is because they have spent countless hours together.  They’ve shared views and opinions.  They have hung out together discussing their convictions, and they have shared many stories.  It was these moments that made them similar.  Because of how much time they spent together, some of the father’s peculiarities became second nature to the son.

The same goes for your spiritual life.  If you want there to be a family resemblance between you and your heavenly Father, you must spend time with him.  If you live separated from him, never taking the time to come into his presence, you will not look much like him.  If your only information about God is through someone else, there will not be much resemblance.

On the other hand, if you are faithful to spend time with him, you can become the spitting image of your father!

Reality Check

·       What is your reaction when you see someone who is less fortunate than you?   What do you think when you see someone who is hurting?

·       In which areas would you like your convictions to be stronger?  How are you similar to or different from the Peter of old who caved in to pressure?

·       What attitudes do you have that you know are not pleasing to God?  How might spending time in God’s presence help change these attitudes?

·       What specific things can you do to decrease your sin life?  How have you seen sin decrease in your life before?

Father, I want to be just like you.  Teach me to think about the things that you think about, see the things that you see, love that which you love, and hate what you hate.  I ask these things because only then will I be able to serve you with pure motives.  God, as I spend time with you, I pray that you would shape my worldview.  May my heart break over the things that break yours.  Let my convictions become stronger, and help me overcome the sins in my life.  God, give me your attitudes so that I can represent you to this lost world.  I pray that as I give you all that I am, you would change me into someone who looks more like you everyday.  Let me be consumed with these thoughts, for I believe they are what you want for me.  I am yours.  Amen 

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