I encountered an old friend of my daddy’s not too long ago. I had not seen him since my daddy died. The first thing he said to me was, “You are the spitting image of your daddy.” I suppose that was a compliment, but I got to thinking about the phrase “spitting image.” That is an odd phrase. Spitting is really kind of nasty. Nobody wants to see someone else spit. But I see these precious newborn babies, and often the first word someone says about them is that she is the spitting image of her daddy. Is this just a southern thing? Wouldn’t it be nicer to say, “She is such a beautiful baby, and she resembles her mother so much.” Anyway, I googled “spitting image,” and there is no real consensus on exactly where the phrase came from. Some think it is a contraction of two words that originally were spirit and image.
We are constantly encouraged to follow Jesus. What does that mean? Well, to follow Jesus meant to go and do as Jesus did. So the real goal of following Jesus is that ultimately we are transformed into His spitting image. The most powerful witness in this word is when others see the spirit and image of Jesus in us. When people look at you, wouldn’t it be cool that instead of seeing you, they were able to see the image of Jesus?
– Dr. Tim Thompson