How To Be A Reflection Of God

How to Be a Reflection of God 

In part 3 of our Intentional Family series, the mom and dad of our house, Pastors Beth and Jeff Jones, share an instructional word guiding us in how to be a reflection of God, especially as a spouse and as a parent. 

Pastor Beth comes to us via video while guest speaking at a church in Idaho and shares her core values as a mother with 10 intentional things for us to do with our kids. In house, Pastor Jeff dives into how to be a reflection of God to our families and shares 2 foundational passages that have shaped his life as a husband and a father. He also details 7 key principles for us to exemplify as we shine the light of Jesus into our homes and our community. 

Both Pastor Beth and Pastor Jeff remind us of the #1 goal for intentional families: Live a life pleasing to the Lord. That’s it! And we’re learning exactly how to do just that in How to Be a Reflection of God. 

10 Intentional Values to Implement with Your Kids

To encourage the moms of VFC, Pastor Beth shares with us 10 intentional values she practiced with her 4 kiddos that she felt truly made an impact in their lives as children and now as adults. 

Of course we all have hundreds of things we wish we’d done as parents and countless things we think we’ve done wrong, but by adding these 10 intentional values into the routine of our family lives, we’re able to sew into our kids for long-term prosperity and be a reflection of God in their lives. Listen to the beginning of How to Be a Reflection of God with Pastor Beth for deeper insight and start adding these 10 intentional values into your family routine today! 

• Pray for your kids.

Lift your children up to the Lord and pray specifically for their needs. Pray for God’s will, God’s plans, God’s purposes over their lives. 

• Laugh with your kids.

Moms are the thermostat of the house–if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! Make it your responsibility to find joy in each day. 

• Talk with your kids.

Keep the lines of communication with your kids open so that they know they can come to you with any issue at any time.

• Have date nights with your kids.

By investing in our kids individually, we’re able to highlight the importance of quality time and build unique, personalized memories together. 

• Take your kids to church.

There is no better place for our children to be than in the house of the Lord! Prioritizing church teaches our children to honor God in every season. 

• Take annual family vacations.

Time goes quickly and our kids are grown in the blink of an eye. Commit to building core memories every year. 

• Focus on each kid’s interests and help them find it.

By helping our kids develop an identity in something, we help ensure that they’re not pulled in harmful directions as they get older. 

• Make your kids skip school.

This helps our kids not take everything so seriously! School is important, but so is a periodic break. Our kids don’t need to be perfect, and we need to make sure they know that. 

• Introduce your kids to different cultures.

If you have the opportunity, travel with your kids and give them an opportunity to develop confidence outside of their comfort zones. 

• Help your kids to take the pressure off.

By taking the pressure off of our kids to be perfect, we can instill a Godly pressure in their lives that guides them to simply please the Lord.

Remember, the #1 goal for us as individuals and as families is to live a life pleasing to the Lord. By implementing these 10 core values into our parenting and practicing the 7 principles for reflecting God, we’re intentionally setting our families on track to live a life pleasing to the Lord. Amen! 

Discussion: 

What core values do you practice with your family? 

Do you have traditions or routines that create lasting memories for your kids? 

What practices or routines would you like to implement moving forward to help intentionally build your family? 

The Original Plan for Family

Before there was religion, there was family. Before there was church, there was family. Marriage and families are not a man-made idea! Family was and is part of God’s very intentional plan for our lives. 

It was God’s plan all along to make man and woman, bring them together to become one, and then multiply and grow to live life as family. We know this to be true because we are people of The Book, and scripture makes this very clear to us. 

Genesis 1:26-28 (NKJV) 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 2:24 (NKJV) 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

In these verses, we see God’s original plan for family defined clearly. God tells us how life is supposed to be, He doesn’t leave us alone to figure out how it’s supposed to be.

Pastor Jeff shares in his message, How to Be a Reflection of God, this excerpt from a Bible commentary he listens to: “God intended husband and wife to be a spiritual functional unity, walking in integrity, serving God and keeping His commandments together.”

This is how God intended our lives to work–we do life together. When we live together in harmony, as God intended, society prospers under His hand. When we dedicate our lives as husbands and wives and families to God, harmony happens. 

A Foundation to Build Our Lives Upon

In How to Be a Reflection of God, Pastor Jeff shares with us 2 foundational verses that he has strived to build his life upon as a father and a husband. While he offers a paternal point of view, his message benefits us all as we see God’s intentions for our families unfold. 

Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV) 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

Ephesians 5:25 (AMP) ​​25 Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 

Colossians 3:21 (NKJV) 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Colossians 3:21 (AMP) ​​21 Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or exasperate your children [with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by favoritism or indifference; treat them tenderly with lovingkindness], so they will not lose heart and become discouraged or unmotivated [with their spirits broken].

Pastor Jeff explains that his goal both as a husband and as a father was (and is) to be a reflection of God to his wife and his children. We’re all a work in progress, and we’ll all fail many times. We’re not called to be perfect, we’re called to be a reflection of the Lord’s love for us!

Discussion: 

Like Pastor Jeff shared two verses that he stands on as a husband and a father, what verse or passage serves as a foundation for your life? 

In what ways do you mirror God in the lives of your spouse? Your children? Your community? 

What specific areas of your relationships would you like to be more like Jesus?

How to Become a Reflection of God

If we set out to be the perfect spouse and parent, we set ourselves up for failure. However, if we strive to simply be a mirror of God to our families, then it becomes about Him instead of being about us. Mirroring and reflecting God starts with us; it starts with our hearts.

Proverbs 27:19 (NKJV) As in water, face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.

Proverbs 27:19 (MSG) Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.

Becoming a reflection of God isn’t about becoming perfect; it’s about resting in the idea that it’s possible in any situation we have in life to mirror God’s love. Being a reflection of God is what we were literally built to do; we were made in His image.

Living our lives and focusing on just reflecting God takes the pressure off of us. Remember the Michael Jackson song, “Man in the Mirror”? The lyrics go like this: 

I’m starting with the man in the mirror. 

I’m asking him to change his ways.

And no message could have been any clearer. 

If they wanna make the world a better place,

Take a look at yourself and then make a change. 

We’re all trying to figure out how to do life in a way that honors the Lord. But how do we change? How do we begin to look at life differently and act on it? Our goal is to be a reflection of God to our families, but it’s about making a decision to be a reflection of Him.

In How to Be a Reflection of God, at timestamp 22:36, Pastor Jeff challenges us to humble ourselves and ask, “What am I willing to give up in order to be a reflection of God?” This looks like putting our spouse before ourselves. It looks like being consistent and loving without condition. It’s compromising and not holding grudges. Being a reflection of God means loving like Jesus loves. 

Discussion: 

What changes can you make to better mirror God? 

How can you love your family like Jesus loves us? 

What areas, as a spouse or a parent, do you struggle with chasing perfection instead of reflection?

7 Ways to Be a Reflection of God 

Pastor Jeff shares 7 guiding principles that will help us be a reflection of God, especially to our kids and reminds us that mirroring the love of Jesus is designed to be simple and applicable. If we sew into our families in the ways of the Lord, we will see those efforts come to pass–building intentional families is Kingdom work! 

Be sure to listen to How to Be a Reflection of God–Starting at timestamp 27:52, Pastor Jeff shares not only scriptures to support each of these 7 principles, but also real life stories that help us relate to biblical instruction in real time.

• Be an Encourager

Matthew 3:17 (NKJV) And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

• Be Faithful

1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Proverbs 28:20 (NKJV) A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

• Be Generous

Isaiah 32:8 (NLT) But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.

Matthew 6:8 (NKJV) Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

• Show Mercy

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV) 22Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it's within one’s power to punish.

“God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of its light, or make space too narrow than diminish the great mercy of God.” 

– Charles Spurgeon

• Bring Correction

Proverbs 3:12 (NKJV) For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.

2 Corinthians 7:3-4 (NLT) 3I’m not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts, and we live or die together with you. 4I have the highest confidence in you, and I take great pride in you. You have greatly encouraged me and made me happy despite all our troubles.

1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV) And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

• Model Integrity

Proverbs 20:7 (NKJV) The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.

Matthew 5:37 (NKJV) Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no.

We need to stand by our word. Integrity is the foundation of family; a family without integrity falls apart 

• Be Joyful

Nehemiah 8:10 (NKJV) …The joy of the Lord is our strength…

Psalms 144:15 (NKJV) Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

What Does it Look Like?

When we reflect the Lord to our families, we reflect an intentional family and we reflect Jesus to the world. In an intentional family, mom is committed to dad and dad is committed to mom. Mom and dad are committed to the kids. The home is committed to the Lord and the family commits their energy to the gospel. 

Who are you reflecting? Whose example are you mirroring in your home? In your day-to-day life? Whose image do you reflect to your spouse, your kids, your family? 

As we continue to passionately pursue Christ in our lives, let’s be intentional in our families and begin applying Pastor Beth’s 10 core values and Pastor Jeff’s 7 principles to become a reflection of God in the lives of our spouses, our kids, our communities, our world. Amen! 

Prayer: 

Father, thank you for reminding us what a joy it can be to live for you and live with you. Thank you for guiding us and leading us along the way. Thank you for encouraging us in our faith in you. We love you God. We thank you for your grace and your mercy and your kindness to us. Help all of us to reflect Jesus to the world. We give you all the glory, all the honor, all the praise. In Jesus' mighty name, Amen.