Have you ever seen blood-related family members who don’t look anything alike? Sometimes there are brothers that you look at, and you wonder, “How can you two be brothers? You have none of the same features?!” Similar even with family members and their internal characteristics. Sometimes people who have been brought up pretty much the same way do not act the same or they do not have the same hobbies. Sometimes it can not be very obvious who are related to each other without looking into family history.
In many ways we are like that with God. Think about it, he is all-knowing, all-powerful, 100% good, and has been around for all of time. Yet, who does he call his children? Us. Followers of him, he calls his children. When we are not all good, not all powerful, only know our small section of the universe. We are, in so many ways, nothing like our great God, so then why does he call us his children? Why does he want to make us so close to him? Why does he care about us so much?
I was reading the book, “Mere Christianity” by C.S Lewis and I saw one of the best quotes I have ever seen in regards to our relationship with God. To give you better context, C.S Lewis spends some time talking about pretending. We can easily think that pretending is a bad thing, and it can be. However, there are times when pretending can benefit both us and many others in the world. For example, there are times when we don’t want to be kind, and we want to instead be mean to the people around us, but we pretend that we want to be kind and all of a sudden we find it much easier to act kind.
Lewis also tells us that God is a great pretender. He does a great job pretending that we as his people are more than we actually are. “But He says, ‘Let us pretend that this is not a mere creature, but our Son. (child).’” We are now not just his created beings. We are now not just another mammal, but we are invited to spend eternity with him if we so choose it. That is pretty amazing. This all is what brings us to my favorite quote I have ever seen when it comes to my personal and others relationship with Christ, and that is “God looks at you as if you were a little Christ: Christ stands beside you to turn you into one.”
One of my other favorite parts of this quote is the second part. Even though we are looked at as creations of God, we are not easily able to act the way that God has called us to act. We are still going to struggle with our flesh desires and sin. But then God says that he is going to help us become more and more like himself. This is just what is said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loves me and gave himself up for me.”
How do we best become our own better pretender? How do we become more the little Christs that God has believed us capable of? The best way is to allow Christ to come into our lives. We need to die to ourselves. Ok, but what does this mean? I think the first step is to accept that we are never going to measure up by our own actions and thoughts. We are never going to be perfect or as filled with grace, peace, joy, faith, patience, perseverance, wisdom, or love without someone coming in our place and living amidst us. Being willing to submit ourselves and admit that we need Christ for our daily needs is the first step that we can take when it comes to being a true son or daughter of Christ.
Then the second is to spend time with God. The only way that we can really learn about someone is through spending time with them. When spending time with someone we learn about their likes and dislikes, what characteristics they possess, and what they really appreciate out of relationships with others. Similarly, we need to spend time with God. This is through prayer and through reading of His Word.
Prayer is important because that is literally talking to God. It is being willing to tell God what thoughts or concerns are in your mind and your heart, thanking God for all that he has done, and being willing to listen to what God has to say and what he believes that you should do or what you need for your Chrisitan walk. Then when we read his Word, we get more insight into the people who were a part of God’s life and his followers. The Bible is filled with commands from God that give us direction of where we should go. It is also filled with followers or examples of people who have followed God or even examples of people who learned lessons of being God followers.
How amazing is it that God has decided to make us sons and daughters. How awesome that he decided to “pretend” that we are more than we actually are. How indescribable that he at first created us as a creature like he did with animals and the plants and the rest of the earth, but then he decided that we get to have a special relationship with God. Every person has the opportunity to have this special relationship. Every person has the opportunity to “pretend” that they are little Christs.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 