I mentioned in my last blog post that I had been reading a book entitled “Raking Light from Ashes“, a true story of a WW2 Jewish girl’s Holocaust survival. Relli Glowinski’s parents smuggled her out of the ghetto and entrusted her to a Gentile Polish couple who agreed to hide her for the duration of the war under a false identity. Eventually, after the war was over, one of Relli’s biological uncles discovered she was still alive and Relli was reunited with the Glowinski family.
Relli was so young when she was handed over to the Polish couple that she didn’t know any of her parents families, her aunts and uncles, let alone cousins. At age 12 she found herself sitting at a large table with all of them, feasting and celebrating her return to the Glowinski family.
Passing the fine, celebratory food around the crowded dinner table, Aunt Rita passed the borscht to Relli. Relli filled her bowl with a serving and passed it on. Next came the potatoes. Relli spooned her serving into her bowl on top of her borsht and passed the potatoes on down the line.
Suddenly, Aunt Rita broke into tears. Relli, having no clue what might be the matter, turned to Aunt Rita and said, “Did I do something wrong?”
Aunt Rita said, “No Relli. You have done nothing wrong. But, surely you are my brother’s daughter! He is the only person I have ever known who mixed his potatoes in with his borscht.”
Have you ever known anyone who didn’t know one of their parents, yet acted just like them, who’s mannerisms were just like their parent, their body movements, etc.? I know a young man who never knew his father. His father abandoned him at age 2. It is no surprise that he looks like his father, but this young man’s mannerisms are so much like his biological father that it is almost frightening. He never knew his father, yet he was so much like him.
In John 14, Jesus told his followers, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” And in verse 9b, Jesus said to Philip, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?”
In John 15, Jesus clearly explains that “he is the vine and we are the branches.” It is particularly clear in verse 4 where Jesus says, “I abide in you, and you in me.”
As I recall and reread these scriptures, I realize again a comparison from the natural to the spiritual. If in this natural realm we have our biological father’s mannerisms and characteristics, wouldn’t it make sense that it would hold true in the spiritual realm also? According to the scriptures, like Jesus, shouldn’t we be able to say “if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father”?
It seems to me that if “I am decreasing and he is increasing” that people should look at me and see the Father. If I have truly crucified my flesh and taken on his life then it should be him that people see when they look at me. It should be him that people hear when I speak.
People should look at me and be able to say, “You can tell she is a child of God. She has the same characteristics as he does.” 1 John 2:6 says that if we are abiding in him we should walk like him.
Consider this…
John 13:35 says, “The world will know we are his if we love one another.” Furthermore, 1 John 4:8 says that if we don’t love then we don’t know God because God is love.
Maybe it is time to sit quietly before my Father and examine myself to see if people can tell by the way I live and by my characteristics that I am one of His. Day by day, line upon line, precept upon precept, I should be decreasing and HE should be increasing in me. When we, as Christians, look at one another, we should be seeing HIS appearing.
