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Do we really know our Father?
Before my calling I had a worldly concept of who and what I thought God was all about. Boy was I wrong! In fact, I was so far off base I marvel at how wrong a person could be. Actually I can now see that I based God’s personality upon that of my physical father.
For those of us who did not have a good relationship throughout childhood and into our teenage years with our physical fathers, it can be quite difficult, even extremely difficult, and seem such a foreign concept, to open up to the most perfect Father of all, our spiritual Father.
I was completely frightened of my dad. I dreaded to hear his car enter the driveway each time he came home from work. If I could have made myself invisible I would have, but I couldn’t. I had to deal with all sorts of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse. This shattered my trust and fear ruled my life. One of the saddest things that transpired, was that my dad refused to come to my wedding. I was walked down the aisle by a man who was not a blood relative. I appreciated this man’s willingness, but it simply was not the same. I desired restoration. My dad paid for the wedding but refused to come leaving a sad feeling over the event.
Maybe you too have had similar experiences, or just find it hard to open up to God our Father because He seems so far away, or is greater than you can imagine. Whatever the reason, I would like to encourage you to really get to know Him by revealing some of the reasons why we can deeply appreciate God. I would like to share just a few of the qualities our spiritual Father has and which I have come to treasure and love.
He Gave Everything He Had For Us (Romans 8:32)
In Genesis 1:26-30 God tells us how He created all things and that everything on the earth was for a purpose for human life. All of it was very good (Genesis 1:31) and we were blessed by God to enjoy all. God organised every tree, flower, blade of grass, animal, insect, mountain, beach, valley, sea creature, colour, rainbow, and so on, for every single human to appreciate. Do we take time to absorb this and give thanks? Before my calling I was desensitized to this aspect. The sky and the greenery was just there, an expectation if you like. That was how I thought. We need to pause or slow down to really look at the marvellous complexity of a flower, or the way a horse gallops in powerful movement, or how even the ant moves about with purpose the next time you have occasion. It is so easy to take these things for granted.
John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. His only Son, Jesus Christ, died so that we may live. When we meditate on this it simply cannot get any more profound or beautiful, this ultimate sacrifice given so freely for all so that we may live. Father has truly given us everything He has, and yet there is much more to come that is so fabulously magnificent, we cannot ourselves even begin to contemplate how great His Kingdom will be. However we can spend many hours meditating on this and you can get a taste of the Kingdom in Revelation 21 and 22.
God has not only created us, He provides for us, He comforts us, He counsels us, He defends us, and He protects us. A Father who delights in His children (Psalm 149:1-5) and wants to give us every good thing (Luke 11:9-13).
He Is A Jealous God And Is Passionate About Having A Relationship With Us (Malachi 3:16-18)
In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul speaks about God being jealous with godly jealousy. He is saying that God wants us to remain faithful to Him, not to seek after other gods or lust after other things which are idols. God is longing to be a Father to us, and declares His passion for His children (Matthew23:37). He tells us in Exodus 6:7 “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God”.
In contrast to my physical father, I know God the Father truly wants me and every one of you reading this message. How good does it feel to know we are all wanted and with such divine passion? We all need to feel like we belong in a loving family, and God provides many times over; (Mark 10:29-30).
He Does Not Show Favouritism (Galatians 2:6)
Job 34:19 says “Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands”.
In God’s eyes we are not able to manipulate or try to gain favour because He regards all the same according to the law and the 10 Commandments. When we are obedient to God’s commands and have a humble repentant heart, we know we will be judged according to our works, not what we look like (1 Samuel 16:4) or how much money we have. We need to understand that God operates the opposite to how the world thinks (Isaiah 55:8-9).
We know the world at large values beauty, riches, titles, fame, anything to do with Hollywood and the tragic way so many go under the knife in order to change their looks and bodies through plastic surgery. As a worldly person, my dad wanted me to be tall, thin, tanned, beautiful, funny, and fearless at sports. I tried desperately to gain his favour but I never seemed to be able to do this based on what he would say to me. Focusing on these things made me miserable and instead I buried myself into literature which was my escapism. I found my physical father impossible to please but I take great comfort in knowing that it is possible to please God our Father. In Hebrews 11:6 we read “without faith it is impossible to please God...”. So therefore, we can please God through our faith. Read about all the examples of God’s people and their faith in Hebrews 11. It is mightily uplifting and inspiring.
We Do Not Have To Compete With One Another For His Love (Philippians 2:3-4)
If you have grown up in a household where each child was greatly loved and treated for the most part as valued members of that family, then that is a great start in life. You may not have ever felt the need to compete for your parents love and affection because it was already forthcoming.
Growing up with a younger brother and sister I was the eldest and was expected to be a good example to the others. However my brother was the only boy so he enjoyed many benefits from dad, uncles, and grandfathers that my sister and I did not, I never said anything but it hurt deeply, it also confused me as to why your own family would tease and trick you in various ways. My sister, being the middle child, was given great favouritism in dad’s eyes. It seemed like she could do no wrong and I would see the way he would look at her and smile and I longed for the same treatment. My treatment consisted mostly of criticism, name calling, and blame, with the resultant consequences in punishment. Never mind I was not the guilty party. My sister was often the culprit and seemed to be able to fool dad into believing she was innocent. Usually tears were involved. Hence I got the blame. I was a shy child and was never angry at my younger sister for her mischievousness. I simply did not understand why she wanted to do naughty things, then let me take the blame. I just wanted a peaceful life by being obedient, especially staying away from trouble, because the punishments were so severe.
That is why we have to remind ourselves daily that there are punishments and consequences for those who practice lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Perhaps one of the reasons why God tells us not to compare ourselves with one another in 2 Corinthians 10:12 is to focus on ourselves, our journey, our walk with God and not feel better or worse about ourselves due to seeing or hearing about what others do. I know this is difficult but will come with practice. One example comes to mind in John 21, when Jesus was talking to Peter and asking him whether He loved Him, not once or twice, but three times. Then Jesus told Peter what manner of death Peter will experience. Peter then went on to ask what would happen to John because he wanted to know these things and was comparing himself with John. Peter must have realised that John was greatly loved by Jesus and so wanted to know if John would live on into the Kingdom. It is interesting to read the answer Jesus Christ gave to Peter.
We should not get distracted from the work at hand and caught up in the twigs, or the little things. Instead we must focus on the big picture. What is the big picture? Getting ready for the Kingdom of God to be ushered in by the return of Jesus Christ.