Last week I was officiating a funeral and one of the deceased relatives told me, she thought I was NFL quarterback Joe Theisman, who is from South River.  It was her opinion that I could pass for his twin.

Personally I don’t see it.  Nor do I agree with people who tell me I look just like my brother or that I am a spitting image of my Dad.  Now when it comes to Gregory, I have no problem.  I cannot deny that he is my son.  That however was not always the case.

There was a time when Adam and Greg could pass as identical twins.  If I were to show you pictures of them from birth until Adam entered high school they were imitations of one another, at least in appearance.  In terms of character and personality it was a whole other ballgame.

Have you every tried to be the spitting image of someone else? It has been said that ‘imitation is the highest form of flattery.’ While that might be true, what concerns me today is the kind of people today’s culture desires to imitate.

Young girls are suffering from all sorts of eating disorders because they want to look the models, actresses and singers they see in magazines, in movies and in concerts.  How pathetic is it when an 18 year millionaire actress who doesn’t stand taller than 5’ 4” and doesn’t weigh more than a 110 lb thinks she looks like a whale?

If you want to know what athlete a youth idolizes just watch the child play the sport. I have coached numerous youth who tried to imitate their sports idol. They wore the same number. They had the same batting stance. They stood in the field the same way. They threw the ball in the same way. They even had the same superstitions. It is scary to think how many hours this youth had to spend watching that particular player.

This past Thursday’s devotional thought in Power Up – Growing stronger day-by-day was about Detroit pitcher Mike Maroth’s desire to have the same success as hall of fame bound pitcher Tom Glavine.  Mike studies the pitching mechanics of Tom so he can learn the technical points of Glavine’s pitching style.  His thinking is if he can imitate Tom’s mechanics and techniques he will also imitate the kind of success Tom has had.

There is nothing wrong with imitating someone, as long as that someone is indeed worthy of imitation.

If you have ever wondered why you were created here is your answer? You were created to become like Christ!

God created us in his own image so that we would become the spitting image of Jesus Christ.

Why Jesus Christ?

The name is right here in God’s Word.

Jesus is as good a picture of God as it gets. He is ‘a chip off the old block.’ The saying, ‘like father, like son’ is never truer when it comes to God. God’s desire is that it would true with regards to our relationship with Him as well.

Watch what God does, and then do it.

Keep company with Him and learn a life of love.

Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us.  Love like that.

As the footnote in the life application Bible points out, “People should be able to see a difference between Christians and non-Christians because of the way Christians live.  Paul said in

Living a Christian life is a process. Making a confession in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior doesn’t automatically make you think good thoughts, express right attitudes and live perfect sinless lives.

Trust God to change you.

Make a choice, daily, to let go of old ways of acting.

Change the way we think. You and I exist for God. It is not the other way around. God is the potter and we are the clay. The clay cannot tell the potter what to do.

Put on Christ developing Godly habits. Ephesians 5 lists a number of habits we need to take off and Godly habits we need to put on. We will all do well to take the time this week and read chapter 5. When you do ask yourself, is this an area of my life I need to ask for the Spirit and power of God to change me?

How awesome would it be if some said, ‘You are the spitting image of your father and they are referring not to your earthly father, but your Heavenly Father.