I Want To Be Just Like You

When I was a kid one of the greatest add campaigns was "I wanna be like Mike" by gatorade.  I did! I really wanted to be like Mike!  But, more realistically, "I want to be just like you" has been something I have been saying about my dad, Rabbi David Rosenberg, my whole life.  My dad's desire is to be like Yeshua. "I want to be just like you" was the cry of my dad's heart as he watched his father as a child. For my dad there was a lot of disappointment and pain in the relationship with his dad.  But, through all the pain he found his true father, Adonai.

Yeshua is just like His father.  He often says things like, "My Father has been working until now, and I, too, am working" (John 5:17).  The Besorah (Gospel) of John continues, "Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: ‘Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too’” (5:19).  Yeshua was so in tune with the father that everything He did came from the father. 

The greatest thing I learned from my earthly father is the desire to be just like Yeshua,  who is just like His father. In fact, He and the father are one. Yeshua's prayer before He died was, "I pray not only for these, but also for those who will trust in Me because of their word, that they may all be one. Just as You, Father, are united with Me and I with You, I pray that they may be united with Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:20-21). 

Yeshua has enabled us (those who believe) to be just like Him. It's not just a hope. It's not just a prayer. It can be a reality.

It doesn't mean we will be perfect. It doesn't mean that we will be without sin. It doesn't mean we won't fight with our spouses. It doesn't mean we won't yell at our children. It doesn't mean all relationships will be the way they should be. It doesn't mean we will be perfect.

It means we can be like Him. It means we can put the needs of others before ours. It means we can be attentive to God's plan for our lives. It means we can trust our lives (and the lives of those we love) in the hands of the God who created us.

It means we can walk like Him. It means we can walk with Him. It means we can, through the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh), be united with our Messiah and be like Him. It means we can say like Paul, "try to imitate me, even as I myself try to imitate the Messiah" (1 Corinthians 11:1).

What are you doing to be like Him? What are you doing that is keeping you from being like Him?

If you want a song that speaks to these same issues pick up: "Just Like You" by Lecrae