Double Doppel
“It must have been her doppelganger,” Erik said as hammered down a bite of his Detroit-style pizza.
“Her what?”
“Her doppelganger.” The word seemed to hang in the air, frozen between us.
“Doppelganner?”
“ganger.”
“Spell it, please.”
“d-o-p-p-e-l-g-a-n-g-e-r.”
“Wow. I’ve never heard that word before, ” I replied as I munched my slice.
I am a word-a-holic.
I like word games, crossword puzzles and magazine vocab quizzes. Etymology is fascinating. I want to know everything about a new word, such as where it originated, who coined it, and when it was first used. As we weaved through traffic en route from Buddy’s Pizza to the Henry Ford Museum, I asked Erik to repeat the word several times in hopes of making it mine. Doppelganger. Doppelgranger. Doppelganner. I struggled with the syllabification.
At the museum, I took off for the American Style and Spirit exhibit and Erik bee-lined to a collection of boring machine parts. As I stood gazing at the beautiful gowns (circa 1920’s), a woman approached and asked me if my name was Carrie. I told her no, my name is Mary. Her response:
“Wow! You have a doppelganger named Carrie.”
Not kidding. What were the odds?
Doppelganger. Doppelganger.
Doppelgänger: [dop–uh l-gang-er; German daw-puh l-geng-er] Noun, a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.
God wants us to have a doppelganger—Jesus. Think I’m kidding? Read the following verse.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29
Jesus is our doppelganger. Our twin. Double. Doppelganger. We are to be conformed to His image. Thankfully we are not responsible for the transformation—God is. He uses every circumstance, good and evil, to sculpt our character. A piece here. A rough edge there. Constant hammering and chiseling until finally, boom bam, we look like, sound like, act like, think like Jesus.
Do people accuse you of looking like Jesus? Do strangers walk away from an encounter with you asking who does she/he remind me of? Oh, yeah, Jesus! If you are like me, the answer is often a big NO. Let’s take a few Action Steps!
Action Steps:
- Pray and ask God to conform you heart and soul into the image of Christ.
- Hide God’s Word in your heart. It is the main tool God uses to transform us. His word is a “hammer that breaks rock into pieces.” Jeremiah 23:29
- Watch what you allow into your mind. Sinful things shape the heart as well.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to help you think before you act or speak. Ask yourself, Is this what Jesus would say or do?
- Thank God for how He is working to change you from the inside out to be like Jesus.
Jesus is our doppelganger.
Have a blessed day!
