It’s kinda funny really, especially since Terri had been saying it for some time now. It’s now been officially confirmed by several other witnesses and I suppose at this point officially stands as fact…. I look like a kid in a commercial! Not just any kid but a specific one. Oh no, not the cute little one in a baby food commercial, nor the little tike with the puppy dog eating ice cream, not even the cute kid that pitches Smucker’s Grape Jelly. Nope, the youngen that reminds folks of me is the spiffy little guy with the preacher hair and appears to be the chairman of the board of the Haribo Gummy Bear company. The little guy not only looks like me, but dresses like me as well. Last Monday I walked into my local bank only to be questioned by a branch manager asking if I had ever seen the afore mentioned commercial. “It looks just like you” she said! (You’ll have to go to my blog to see the picture!) The fact is that we do resemble someone. I’m the spittin image of my Grandpa Henson. Folks often ask if he’s my dad. Why? Because of the resemblance. Why the resemblance? Because we are related that’s why! So whom do you resemble? Or maybe the question is, to whom are you related? Who do people think of when they see you?
It matters who we remind others of because people are watching! I love the truth of this little poem, “My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done; Leave countless marks for good or ill, ere sets the evening sun. This is the wish I always wish, the prayer I always pray: Lord, may my life help other lives it touches by the way.” Our lives whether we admit it or not influence others. J.O. Sanders writes, “ Dr. John Geddie went to Aneityum in 1848 and worked there for God for 24 years. On the tablet erected to his memory these words are inscribed: When he landed, in 1848, there were no Christians. When he left, in 1872, there were no heathen.” History has it that President Calvin Coolidge invited some people from his hometown to dinner at the White House. Since they did not know how to behave at such an occasion, they thought the best policy would be just to do what the President did. The time came for serving coffee. The President poured his coffee into a saucer. As soon as the home folk saw it, they did the same. The next step for the President was to pour some milk and add a little sugar to the coffee in the saucer. The home folks did the same. They thought for sure that the next step would be for the President to take the saucer with the coffee and begin sipping it. But the President didn't do so. He leaned over, placed the saucer on the floor and called the cat! Careful will be the life that’s lived with the knowledge that others follow after us!
Leighton Ford used to tell the story about the time he was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat on the grass at the rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses, no one recognized him. Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to my presentation. When I invited people to come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder and asked, "Would you like to accept Christ? I'll be glad to walk down with you if you want to." The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, "Naw, I think I'll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night." Dr. Ford said, “Billy and I have had several good chuckles over that incident. Unfortunately, it underlines how, in the minds of many people, evangelism is the task of the "Big Guns," not the "little shots." It matters who we remind others of because God is watching! When the wife of missionary Adoniram Judson told him that a newspaper article likened him to some of the apostles, Judson replied, "I do not want to be like a Paul...or any mere man. I want to be like Christ...I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings, drink in His Spirit, and place my feet in His footprints...Oh, to be more like Christ!" On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a portrait with the following inscription: "James Butler Bonham--no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom." No literal portrait of Jesus exists either. But the likeness of the Son who makes us free can be seen in the lives of His true followers.
I said earlier that we tend to resemble those we are related to. I believe that if we are related to Jesus, we’ll remind others of Him. One of my favorite accounts of the New Testament church is found in Acts chapter four where Peter and John are hauled before a religious council to answer for the healing of the lame man who lay by the temple who was healed by God’s power. After a brief message by Pastor Peter the reaction of this astute group revealed three truths about Peter and John that should be evidenced in our lives as well. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” What really speaks to me is the line, “they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” Is that true…in you?
The real me!
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