Recently, I attended a Writer’s Conference and met a Christian magazine editor. He invited me to write a 750-word and an 1800-word article for him. He said he would review it, edit it and give me feedback. So below is my first attempt at writing a magazine article. Feedback welcomed.
Like Father, Like Son
The other day I met my son and grandson for breakfast. It was the first time that we had done this. My son had helped me out with something so I had promised him that I would take him to breakfast. He suggested his off day from work on a weekday on Wednesday. He then said he would have to bring my grandson with him and we could have a “boy’s day out”. I thought it was a great idea since we all love to eat. As I got out of my car at the local Waffle House, I saw him and my grandson get out of their car. My son took his hand to walk him across the parking lot and I smiled thinking how they looked like father and son. As we ate our breakfast, my grandson would smile and say, “Dada, Dada”.
I am sure that everyone has heard the proverb or saying, “like father, like son”. What does that really mean? Did you know that there is a similar saying from the Word of God? Ezekiel 16:44, reads: “Look! Everyone who uses proverbs will apply this proverb to you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ “ So, you can also say, “like mother(or father), like daughter” if that applies to you. This saying has two meanings in common use. One is that the son looks like the father. He may have the same color of eyes or hair. He may have the same body build. My son when he was my grandson’s age, as a toddler, was kind of chunky but then he grew tall and thinned out. My grandson is kind of chunky too now at 18 months old.
This proverb also has a second meaning. It can mean that the son or the daughter may have the characteristics or mannerisms of the father. Even if they do not have the physical resemblance, they may talk and act like their father. My sister tells me all the time that my grandson looks like my son when he was that age. Others tell me that he has the mannerisms of my son. So again, “like father, like son”. I remember as my son grew that people would tell me that he ‘looks like you’ or that he had my characteristics.
In John 10: 17 and 18, Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love Me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” He goes on to say in verse 30, “I and My Father are One.” In John 14: 10, He continues with this, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. The words I say are not My own but are from My Father Who lives in Me. And He does His work through Me.” So, “like Father, like Son”.
What was His work that the Father did through Him while He was doing His ministry? What did He say and do that was ‘like’ His Father? In Mark 1 and Luke 4, He preached the gospel. He preached the good news of the kingdom of God. In Matthew 20 and other passages, He served people. In Luke 19, He came to seek and to save those that were lost. Jesus concluded His earthly ministry by teaching His disciples this in John 14: 12: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works shall he do; because I go to My Father.”
In Romans 8: 29, Paul tells us “For those, He did foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren.” We are children of our Father God and Jesus’ brothers and sisters as believers in Him. And… we are to be growing into the ‘image of the Son’ as we are‘being transformed by renewing our minds’(Romans 12: 2)and being led by Holy Spirit(Romans 8: 14). We are becoming ‘like’ our Father as we are becoming ‘like’ Jesus. Like Father, like son(or daughter). Think about it for just a minute. Are you becoming more and more like Him? Are you reading and studying His Word and being led by Holy Spirit daily? In 2 Corinthians 13: 5, we are told: “examine yourselves whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves.” Ask yourself am I ‘like’ my Father?
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