Spitting Image

Hey there, and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading titled Spitting Image was written by So She Dixon. During an outing, we met a woman who had known my husband's family since he was a child. She looked from Alan to our son Xavier. He's the spitting image of his daddy, she said.

Those eyes, that smile, yup, looks just like him. As the woman delighted in acknowledging such a strong resemblance between father and son, she even noted similarities in their personalities. Still, though they are alike in many ways, my son doesn't reflect his father perfectly. There's only one son, Jesus, who reflects his father completely. Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 says that Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. In him, and through him, and for him, all things were created.

He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. We can spend time in prayer and Bible study discovering the father's character by looking at Jesus, God in the flesh. He invites us to witness his love in action by examining how he interacts with others in scripture and in our day-to-day living. After surrendering our lives to Christ and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can grow in knowing and trusting our loving father. He transforms us to reflect his character so we can live for him. What a joy it would be if others could say we look just like Jesus.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 through 23. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything, he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation if you continue in your faith established and firm and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the relationship we can have with you through Jesus and thank you for the scriptures that can teach us so much about you. We pray that your spirit would open our eyes to see the real you as we read the Bible and that we would be molded more and more into your image as we do. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.