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We shall be Like Him (1 John 3:1-3)
We have been sorting through the family photo
album, a long over-due task, and deciding which pictures can go up on
the wall and which are best left discreetly hidden away in an album.
Sorting through old photos stirs long-forgotten memories and mixed emotions
as we recall loved ones who have died, family members with whom we have
lost touch and perhaps not always enjoyed the best of relations, and
children whose innocence is gone and whose triumphs and disappointments
we have shared. Happy times that were too fleeting, sad times that cause
regret, life-changing times when we committed ourselves to marriage
and raising children.
Of course, there is a good deal of fun and laughter in looking at old
photos as we rediscover old haircuts ("Now that's what I call a mullet!"
someone declared), clothes of a lost (and perhaps best-forgotten) generation,
and trim figures we wistfully consider in our middle-aged comfort. For
me the most poignant aspect of the exercise is looking back at childhood
photos of loved ones whose life course we now know was a mixture of
laughter and tears and many disappointments. Looking so innocent and
happy they had no idea of what life had in store for them, the life
partner who left after a few years, the sickness that robbed them of
too much too soon, the wisdom gained but at great cost.
Another aspect of sorting out photos is the inevitable contest over
who looks like who and whose body parts have been passed on to the latest
generation. Looking at photos of my late mother-in-law and my eldest
daughter the likeness was uncanny and my second son as a baby looked
the image of his own son, now 18 months old. Of course none of this
means anything unless it is your own family under discussion. Other
people's families may raise a polite and passing interest but when it
is your own the subject can seem endlessly fascinating. Mother and father,
uncles and aunts, siblings and cousins, and who was that little boy/girl
on the end in the wedding photo (isn't there always one)? It can all
be very interesting, very poignant, very amusing.
We might be forgiven for thinking that God can't do much with such unpromising
material. Certainly it is difficult to believe that such material can
ever be like Christ. Yet Scripture tells us that:
Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers (Ro.8:29)
It is in the purpose of God that we be like Christ in every way (1 John
3:2). This is the purpose and the promise of God who has provided all
that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) and has done this
in three ways:
1. Our text tells us that God has lavished his great love on
us. He did not spare his own Son, but
gave him up for us (Ro.8:32). As I consider
my photo album and the highs and lows it represents in the lives of
those I love I am reminded that God looked on his Son as I looked on
my children in the early years, This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
As I have stood and agonised over what my children have had to go through
so God looked on as the Son he loved was misrepresented, slandered,
abused and punished by an unforgiving world. God has, indeed, lavished
his great love on us!
2. Having saved us from our sin
It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed
us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts
as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor.1:21-22)
This is the part that so impresses me. How often I have felt "I wish
I could have done something about this situation". The amazing thing
about the Lord is that he can be with people in a way we can't. My wishful
thinking is something God doesn't do! God is Sovereign and works in
us by his Spirit, and note the key words: stand firm; ownership; guarantee.
God doesn't look at the family album and wonder what he might have done
to make things better for his children.
3. The most amazing thing is that we become people who are concerned
about these things. Think for a moment about all the years you spent
not caring about the things of God and now you are sitting looking at
your photo album and concerned that God might not be able to fulfil
in you his promise to make you like Christ. How amazing is it that,
everyone who has this hope in him purifies
himself, just as he is pure. This is you
and me turning from sin because God has lavished us with his love, made
us his children, and given us the Spirit to make us like Christ.
When we see him we will be like him
- Have a great week!