Sixteen and Counting - Chip off the old block

 

Gainsborough Family Portrait.

We know that we are dearly loved because we are called ‘children’. 

Many do not realise this. 

What is more, when Jesus returns we will see him clearly and be made like him. 

Let us be pure now, just as he is pure. 1John 3:2 

This is the incredible thing.  Just as earthly parents choose to have children, and anticipate joy, so our Creator 'gave birth' to us.  Just as any thinking parent knows that some of being a parent will involve heart break.  Indeed that the act of being a parent may truly 'break their heart', so the creator knew the end of the story before it started.  I am reminded of Angela, who told me how she wept openly in a public bus on the way home from visiting her son in prison, and said to me, "there is worse than seeing your son die."  

      We how know our Creator wept only for a moment.  The pain is there, but so is the hope placed (not wished with crossed fingers) in our hearts.  The baby will be born.  We will be delighted.  Suffering will follow.  A figure on a cross.  But we will be made more and more like him.  Chip off the old block.