Shortly after our son was born, a stream of friends and family trooped through our house—each kind and supportive, and each with a different idea about who he looked like. Some said he had my nose, my husband’s reddish hair, or even Grandpa Benson’s cleft chin! Everyone had a different opinion.

As children of God there should be no question about who we look like. In a spiritual sense, we should resemble our Heavenly Father.

This resemblance should show up as we interact with other people. We ought to leave them thinking, “Would you look at the forgiveness on that kid? Looks just like his dad.” Or, “Check out the mercy on that little one! Couldn’t be more like his father.”

Paul challenged each of us to imitate God in everything we do because we are His dear children (Ephesians 5:1). He explained what he meant by urging us to live rightly—to stay morally pure, avoid greed, and opt out of crude conversations. Most of all, Paul wanted us to live a life filled with love, which is the identifying trait of a child of God.

While it’s fine for people to look at babies and wonder, “whose nose is that?” when they look at us, they should always be certain of the origin of our holiness—our Father, God Himself.