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Have you ever heard the expression, "Like father, like son?" It came about because a little boy will imitate his father.

If you look at the way a young boy walks, you will see he tries to walk just like his father. If his father walks stooped and slow, the son will too. If his father walks fast and stands tall, the son will too.

You fathers may not realize how much your son observes you, but as he gets older, he will take on many of your characteristics. Actually, imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery.

But it can work for good or bad, either one. If the father is a hard-working man, there's a real good likelihood the son will grow up to be one as well. But, if Dad is lazy and irresponsible, the son will most likely take that on as well.

When we read the Bible, we see in the gospels a story about a father and a son. And here, I speak of God the Father, and Jesus, His Son.

Let's look at the book of John:
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
(John 5:19)
Jesus was saying here that He so closely stayed in touch with His Father, that whatever the Father did, He did. Whatever pleases the Father pleases the Son. Whatever the Father dislikes, the Son dislikes. Whatever the Father says, the Son says.

If the Father doesn't do it or say it, neither does the Son. It would be the same as saying, "If you've seen the Son, you've seen the Father." In fact, Jesus said exactly that in John 14:7-11:
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it sufficieth us.

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?

The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake.
(John 14:7-11)
Here, Jesus was trying to make Philip understand what he should have already understood by then: "Like father, like son." You didn't have to see but one of them to know what they both were like.

OK, with that established, let's move on. Now is where it gets really good. Ready for this? Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17, He prayed to his Father saying that He had manifested his Father's name to his disciples, in other words, Jesus showed them the Father by his actions.

And then Jesus commissioned the disciples with a purpose, and power to accomplish their mission. Let's pick it up again in John 17:18, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."

Jesus Christ the Son did so live, that He left us the perfect example of what His Father is like. Now we, His children, are hopefully watching the Father closely enough that we are imitating Him. Why? Because we have sons and spiritual sons watching us, examining our every word and deed, and as they grow up, what kind of example are they seeing in us?

If you put a paper that you want to copy in a copy machine and press the button, however many copies you will make will look just like the original. You don't have to read the copies to see if they say what the original says.

If the words are spelled right on the original, the copies will have the words spelled right also. Every copy will be just like the original. No matter how many generations of Christians there have been on earth since Jesus was here, we should all be just like Him, as He is the Original, and we are to be the copies.

He is the Father, we are the Sons. If we pay attention to what the Father is doing, and we do just like He does, pretty soon, they'll look at us and say, "Like father, like son!"

Copyright © Life Healing Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Author Biography

Jerry Baysinger
Web site: Life Healing Ministries
 
Jerry Baysinger was a twenty-one-and-a-half-year civilian employee of Missouri State Highway Patrol and operator of his own successful furniture repair business, when in 1993, he was diagnosed with five melanomas and liver cancer. Given a month to live, he resigned from the Patrol and went home to die.
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