Spiritual Paternity (Imago Dei)

A little while ago my wife and I took some time and hung out with my parents. After watching my wife and I interact a little while, I heard my mother comment to my wife about how much I behave (and now looked) like my father. When I thought about it, it interested me because I don’t go out of my way to look or behave like my father, as a matter of fact I’ve often gone out of my way to “Cut my own path” but no matter how differently may I dress, speak or preach than my father, as I began to grow older the resemblance became undeniable. My point is this, no matter how different our personalities may be, no matter how our styles differ, because I am a son, once I GREW UP I started to LOOK LIKE MY FATHER! As the children of God, no matter what our own idiosyncrasies may be, if we are truly HIS offspring, then at SOME POINT we should begin to LOOK LIKE HIM. The true goal of our Christian journey should be to become the “Imago Dei” or the Image of God in the earth.

But the question then becomes, “How can we resemble one that we’ve never seen?” and the truth of paternity is this: it doesn’t matter if a child has ever met their parent but because the child shares the DNA of the parent, sooner or later the resemblance will become apparent because the child has a piece of the parent within them. Likewise, we can resemble God because we have His Spirit within us and because we have union with God through Jesus Christ. There are too many Christians and Children of God that do not display the attributes of their Heavenly Father, but the test of our spiritual paternity lies not in our shout, our dance, our preaching style, our tongues, our music, our vestments, our clothes, but rather in whether or not we display the Love of God, the Mercy of God, the Compassion of God, the Power of God and the Holiness of God.

My personal prayer is no longer for ministry fame, or for success alone but now it is my desire that I become the Image of God, the “Imago Dei” in the earth. That the people of the world will be able to look at me and through me see God, not just through my ministry but in every area of my life. I want to love my wife like God “So loved” the world and like Christ loved the church. I want to be Holy (which means different) like God is Holy, and I want to display the power of God so that through my short and meager existence lives might be changed because they were pointed towards him.

I hope that this becomes your prayer also.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Joshua Eggerson