Why I Want to Be More Like Jesus
He was imitating everything I was doing.
I’d make a face and He’d make a face. I’d do a dance, and he’d do his version of the same dance. Then came the moment. I placed his bowl of peanuts on my head to do a balancing trick for him. But before I could say, "Hey don't spill the....", he, in his own cute way returned the favor.
CLICK.
My son likes me a lot and for that I am deeply grateful. But he’s starting to reach that phase where he wants to be just like me, hence emulating everything I do. Ordinarily, this would be a proud-daddy moment. But like most, I know the real me a little too well.
Though there are parts of my life I’m proud of and would like to see fostered in his, there are others I’d prefer he never witness. I know that’s not realistic because if you live long enough with anyone, you eventually see their crazy "Jesus-is-still-working-on-this-area-of-my-life" side.
So, I desperately want my life to resemble the life of Jesus Christ. I want who I am when no one is present or looking to match up with who I am when surrounded by a cloud and crowd of witnesses. I want to love the hurting and the outcast like Jesus did. I want to be patient like Jesus was, and I want to love my little dude like Jesus loves Children.
I want to do this because (Lord help me) MY LITTLE DUDE WANTS TO BE JUST LIKE ME!
I once heard three fathers express this sentiment in a song. I’ve inserted my own words in brackets to sell their point. They write, “[One has] to admit [that we've] got so far to go, [we] make so many mistakes and I'm sure that you know. Sometimes it seems no matter how hard [dads] try, with all the pressures in life [we] just can't get it all right [all the time]. But I'm trying so hard to learn from the best. Being patient and kind, filled with [Christ’s] tenderness. 'Cause I know that [our boys] will learn from the things that [they] see; and the Jesus [they] find will be the Jesus in me. Right now from where [they] stand, I may seem mighty tall, but it's only 'cause I'm learning from the best Father of them all.”
So why do I want to be like Jesus?
Because, [in the harmony infused voices of Phillips, Craig, and Dean], “I want to be a holy example for his innocent eyes to see.” So Father in heaven, “Help me be a living Bible that my little boy can read. Lord I want to be just like You, Cause he wants to be like me.”
