Monday, January 12, 2009

Double Take

Mike and Mark are identical twins. My first time to meet them was a lot of fun - for them! It was my sophomore year in high school and I was new in town. I met Mark in the hallway. He was friendly and said he would see me at lunch.

Later, in the cafeteria, I took my tray and sat down next to my new friend, Mark. Only it wasn't Mark. It was Mike. But I didn't know that.

"Hey, Mark. Mind if I sit here?" I asked. He hesitated a second, then smiled, and said, "Not at all. Have a seat." We carried on a conversation for a few minutes without him ever giving his true identity away.

Within ten minutes, someone sat on the other side of me. You guessed it. Mark. I looked from left to right and left again. I was seeing two Marks! The real Mark smiled and said, "I see you've met my brother, Mike." Identical twins with identical grins.

I haven't seen the twins in nearly twenty years, so I don't know how much they still resemble one another. But in high school, Mark and Mike looked exactly alike. They were the physical image of each other, though not the perfect image of each other. They each had their own unique personalities and tastes. When you saw Mark, you saw what Mike looked like. But you could not get to know Mike by being with Mark.

Jesus, however, is the image of God perfectly. When you see Jesus, you see God! And when you get to know Jesus, you truly get to know God. Why? Jesus is the exact representation of God. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" (Colossians 1:15, NIV).

In Genesis 1:26, God said, "Let us make man in our image." The closest we come to seeing God's statement fulfilled is when we allow Jesus, the perfect image of God, to live through us.

Too many of us are worried about our own image. Like a little girl playing with a doll, we pamper our image, dress it up, and prop it up. But in reality, it's just as fake as the doll.

You have a choice today. You can baby-sit your own image or you can yield your life to Jesus and show others His reflection in you.

My Twin Lives Inside Me,
Perry Crisp

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