What do you want to be when you grow up?

Have you ever asked a child what they want to be when they grow up? You can get quite the range of answers to be sure. As they get a bit older though, a lot of times their answers may change based upon someone or something that is currently popular. Like how many would say they wanted to be an actor/actress or a performer like their favorite singer? Many times you may even see them start to use terms like those people or dress like them.

Granted, a good chunk of the time, this is just a phase they are going through and it will change in time. But for some, they feel an actual draw to the profession, deeper than just the fascination that their peers feel. For those, they start to really look into what it takes to become a performer for example. They start taking steps to reaching that goal, like maybe taking up an instrument or focusing on hitting notes when they sing. For these few, their goal has become real to them - they have a direction. While earlier in life their answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up" would have been a performers name, now it is slightly different - "I want to be a performer like (XXXXX)". They know they cannot be the person in question, but they can aim at being like them. And as time goes forward, they may find the road not so easy as it first appeared to be, but some will, in spite of hardship, reach that eventual goal in time.

Ok, I know what you are thinking - "What does this have to do with me?"

Lots.

We read in 1 Peter, chapter 2: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation"

Like newborns. A very real picture of each of us after we are first saved by the grace of God. We are, in a very real sense, infants. We have so much to learn and so very much to unlearn. But physical babies do not stay tiny forever anymore than spiritual ones do.

In Ephesians 5 we read "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children".

If you have children yourself, you may have noticed how they can mimic you and your actions as they try to be just like you. If you do not have your own, you very well may have seen this in other children or recall something from your own childhood.

In Paul's letter to the Philippians, he writes "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him..".

In that same letter he writes "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things."

Our goal - as those who have been saved - is to become like Him who saved us. This is what we are called to. We may start out as infants, but as we grow, as we mature, the goal to which we strive "must" be to become more like God. And to think that merely going through the motions or doing a bunch of stuff (even some things we may try and hide by using the word ministry) will accomplish that goal, is about the same as someone thinking that just because they can sing karaoke at a bar makes them the same as the original artist.

Too many think the goal is to do more. Doing is a good thing but doing on your own power or to try and earn something, that is a different story. Consider the child who mimics their parent. If they did not spend time with them, know how they act and think (at least partially so), how well would that mimicking be? Not well at all, I dare say. They could try doing things but without that frame of reference, it would be hit and miss at best.

Our first and primary task must be to spend time with Him. To get to know Him. To know how He thinks (the best we can). Not to memorize a bunch of rules nor to try doing a bunch of stuff hoping to get lucky. How amazing would it be if we could all recognize His hand and work on a glance without having to wonder or question, especially if it were something we had never seen or been exposed to before. To know Him so deeply that we just know.

Here is something to consider. If we know our God that well, that intimately, then guess what will happen with regards to doing? We will just do stuff because we will just know that is what He would do if He were standing right there in our stead. Not because we are trying to earn anything or think that it will get us in good with Him or because we think we have to. We just will, since that is what He would do.

So I have one small question for you: what do you want to be (or whom do you wish to be like) when you grow up?