I’m always unashamedly excited to sing Just Like You, because the harmonies are super fun and add a degree of beautiful complexity to an otherwise simple song.
It feels like you could sum up all of Christian life in those lyrics “I want to look just like you God”. And yet, walking that out is way more nuanced than it seems.
My favorite part of the song is the moment where Grimmy (my affectionate name for our Lucy) spontaneously sings out "you don't have to look like anybody else in the way that you worship, so just love Him, like you Him."
That part strikes a deep chord with me because it reflects a lesson that has defined my process with God over the years I have walked with Him. It has been a process of overcoming comparison and embracing the person I am - made in the image of God and capable of giving Him worship and love in a way that no-one else on the planet can.
As I look back over my life, I recall many moments spent wishing I was someone else. Wishing I were taller, whiter, more "handsome", more muscular, more talented, you name it. I could look at anyone in a room and give unlimited reasons for each one of why they were better and more deserving of love than I was. One of my favourite pastimes as a teen was to imagine how amazing my life would have been if I were someone else, anyone else.
But as I have grown as a person and as an artist, I have realised that all the moments in which I felt most connected to God were also the moments where I was being most uniquely myself. The moments in which I have felt the presence of God strongly have happened as I’ve been expressing myself to Him in ways that I could have never learnt from another person. It’s in my nuances, style, quirks and unique outlook on life that He delights. Whenever I stop warring with myself and allow Him to love me for me, the purest worship flows out of me. I am then released to love others fearlessly and selflessly because the fear of rejection is broken.
I am still on a process of embracing all that I am. But I realise now something I didn't before: God loves me for me! And who I am is completely deserving of love in His eyes because I am made in His image. In a way looking just like Him means that I can end the war against myself. I can give my life to worshipping the One who made me without fear of rejection, and for me, that is everything.
I pray that as you listen to this song, you experience the freedom to be yourself, because who you are looks just like God.
