Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. John 5:19-20
What comes to your mind when you think about God? What immediately pops into your head to describe Him? AW Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
Children learn from their parents. What they see mommy or daddy do they will do too. It’s the nature of the parent-child relationship. Children by nature do not act independently of their parents. Of course, that begs the question: How do you see Your Heavenly Father? What do you see Him do? Because what you see your Heavenly Father do, you will do also.
Is your Heavenly Father understanding and compassionate or harsh and demanding? Is He loving or hateful? Is He forgiving or does He hold grudges? Is He slow to anger or full of uncontrolled wrath? Is He patient or impatient? Is He full of grace or condemning? Is He just or unjust? What you see your Heavenly Father do, you will do also. You cannot do something without seeing Him do it first. If you see Him as forgiving, you will forgive. If you see Him as unforgiving, you will not forgive. If you see Him as loving, so you will also be. Your relationships to others are an excellent barometer of how you see God, because you will imitate your Heavenly Father in your interactions.
Children do what they see their parents do. Jesus was no different. He had a Heavenly Father. Whatever He saw His Dad do, He did too. He was not acting independently by any means. The crowd Jesus spoke to understood the relationship of a father and son. They understood that Jesus was saying, “No one has ever seen God. But the Son has seen Him. Now you have seen the Son and you know what the Son is like, so now you know what the Father is like also. The Son is the perfect representation of the Father. Now you have seen God. Now you know what God is like.” (John 1:18).
We’ve never seen God the Father. But we have seen Jesus, we know what He is like from what scripture tells us. That is why we can look at the life of Jesus and know what the Father is like. Sons look like their father. Jesus bares the image of His Father. We don’t have to wander what God is like. Now we know. But can we believe what He has showed us about the Father? The truth is, we will imitate our view of the Father, for better or for worse.
