When You Know God, You Become Like Him
Here’s a scene you spot in lots of cartoons and movies: You’re strolling through a jungle. You walk into what looks like an ordinary pile of branches and leaves. But you’ve stepped right into a trap. A rope tightens around your feet. It yanks you upward. Suddenly you’re hanging by your ankles!
At first, swinging around upside down might sound like a lot of fun. But when you realize that you’re trapped and unable to get free, it won’t be so much fun anymore!
Sin’s a lot like that. It might feel fun for an instant, but when you realize that you are stuck, it isn’t so much fun anymore. It will cause you and others a whole bunch of hurt. And it will tie you up like a prisoner.
Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). You can’t break free when sin strings you upside down. You can’t cut yourself loose or wiggle out. You need someone to rescue you!
God wants you to know him. He plans for you to become like him and shine like a star. But there’s a problem. Lots of times you may try to be good all by yourself. And that’s like trying to bust loose when you’re all tied up, dangling upside down.
Maybe you’ve gotten into a bad habit of teasing other kids—and maybe you’ve tried really hard to fix that awful habit all by yourself.
For example, imagine that you notice that a boy named Shane just got a really bad haircut. You know that you should be nice to him, so you promise yourself that you won’t say a single mean word about his goofy hair. You tell yourself over and over to not even glance at Shane’s bad haircut. You write yourself notes that remind you to act like Jesus. You try to scare yourself into being good by remembering that teasing gets you into big trouble. But as soon as you see Shane, you burst into giggles. You laugh until your belly hurts!
Can you see it? You’re caught in a bad habit and can’t break yourself free. It’s like there’s a rope tied around your ankles and you are swinging upside down. Only God can release you from your bad habit.
Here’s a secret: You become like God not by trying hard to be good but by knowing God better. When you decide to become like Jesus, your first job isn’t to try hard to be a really great person. Your first job is to get to know God.
The Bible says that as you know God better and better, you become more and more like him. It’s how you reflect Jesus to everyone around you. It’s how you shine like a star.
There’s a great Bible passage that explains how this works. It says, “Jesus has the power of God, by which he has given us everything we need to live and to serve God. We have these things because we know him…With these gifts you can share in God’s nature, and the world will not ruin you with its evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4 NCV).
That’s a lot of words, but look at the huge promises the Bible makes.
• Jesus is where you go to get God’s power.
• God’s power gives you everything you need to become like him.
• You get God’s power by knowing him.
• When you have God’s power, you break loose from sin!
Knowing God is what makes you look like God. When you know who God is, you start to feel his unending love for you.
See, God knows everything about you, and he could probably find things to tease you about all the time—like when you give a wrong answer in school, when you trip and fall down, or when your own hair looks goofy. But God never makes fun of you. When you experience God’s perfect love for you, then you have all the power you need to love other people—even those who don’t look very lovable.
The more you know God, the more power you have. It’s what happens when you study the Bible to understand who God is and keep thinking about his tremendous love for you. God made you to look like him. He’s the only one who can make that happen. Knowing God is the world’s most awesome treasure. But becoming like him—that’s part of the treasure too!
TREASURE QUEST
Looking like God is a big job, but fortunately, God promises to start right now. Not only that, but he also says that he will keep changing and growing you to look like him up until the very day Christ comes back to earth—the day the job will be done! Look at what Philippians 1:6 says: “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”