by Dennis Gladden, By Green Pastures, ©2026
(Jan. 20, 2026) — I have three grandchildren, two girls and the youngest, a boy.
Some of me is in them, a thought that astounds me.
But no one has said to one of them, “I see your grandfather in you.”
I don’t see it, either. To look at them is to see a lot of their father and a resemblance to their mother.
Me? Not at all. We’re a generation removed, and the similarities didn’t come through.
This gets me wondering.
Do people see my heavenly Father in me?
Is there a resemblance?
There should be.
Not just a scrunch your nose, furrow your brow, and shrug, “Yeah, I think I see it.”
A strong resemblance.
Because God doesn’t put just some of Himself in us when we receive Jesus. Christ is the fullness of God, and when He dwells in our hearts by faith, God in His fullness dwells in us (Colossians 1:19, 2:9).
Paul even says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit—the dwelling of God (1 Corinthians 6:19).
We have a saying, “Like father, like son.”
When God becomes my father, I should look like His son.
Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen My Father” (John 14:9).
By way of the new birth, God grants us this same testimony.
When you see me, you see Jesus.
See Jesus, and you see God.
Like it or not, our behavior and relations show our family heritage.
Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
We are apprentices to our heavenly Father. Our works—i.e., behavior—reflect His, just as Jesus said, “The very works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 5:36).
Our relationships also reveal our heavenly Father. Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
“You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
What does this look like?
God is good, even to His enemies.
Am I?
He extends love, kindness, and forgiveness even to those who have no use for Him (Matthew 5:45-48).
Do I?
John reminds us, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20).
Read the rest here.