Orginal, or a copy?

This last Tuesday and Wednesday, we went to Adat Yeshua, a Messianic Jewish fellowship, to hear scholar and author Daniel Gruber speak. I always enjoy going to Adat Yeshua. It always challenges me to search deeper in the Scriptures to discover God's truth. Dan Gruber, a true scholar in every way I'm sure, brought some very interesting thoughts to the table.

One of the things he said that still sticks in my mind is this statement;  "Everyone starts out life as an orginal, but ends up a copy."

Chew on that for a while! Think about when a baby in born. It's so precious and innocent, untainted by the peer pressure and drama of this world today. Soon, it begins to grow up. It learns how to talk, walk, eat, and do everything like his parents and siblings do. "Ok," you say, "That's true, but he's still not a copy!"
Move up about 6 years. He's in kidergarten. Not a lot of pressure yet, but there's a little.
Fast forward.....high school. Peer pressure, all the things you have to deal with in public high school. I'm not saying all kids become a copy of their peers, but look around at most. People in general are afraid to be themselves. They're afraid of being rejected.
Now, don't get me completely wrong here. I don't mean we're not to listen to other people and just be however we want to be!  The Bible says in Romans 12:1-2 that we need to present our whole lives to God and to be completely transformed by renewing our mind. By doing that, we become who God wants us to be, which is an orginal you! God doesn't create copies! We can try, some times without even realizing it, to make ourselves into copies by trying to be like our peers. But that is not what God wants us to be. The Bible said, as Dan Gruber said many times the two nights I heard him speak, that His thought's are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. Ever wonder why we just can't understand why things happen a certain way. Well, that would be the reason! God's way of doing and thinking is not even close to ours! So what does God think about everything? How do we figure it out. We in ourselves can't, but by the Holy Spirit that lives within us, we can! Praise the Lord! I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit! The Comforter has come!

by Maria Rice