I know, the title of this article is pretty close to last time's, and that's okay! Around two years ago, I went to a youth camp that lasted a week. During one of the services, the pastor spoke about the trust issues we can have with God when everything is supposed to be quite "simple" since He is our Father. And it was there that he began to develop the difficulties of our relationship with God our Father: our landmarks and earthly models of "father" can be very disappointing. Eli brought it up two weeks ago, and it was when he told me what he wanted to talk about in his article that it occurred to me to expand on it. Certain points will be close, but it seems necessary to me to spend some time on this concept. This preaching just resonated in my heart and although I will be unable to transcribe it to you exactly as it was delivered, I will do my best. Since I have few problems with my father, I had to go online to find out what problems are quite common in a parent-child relationship, and especially between a father and his children (I admit, this is one of the problems of taking preaching notes on different mediums, haha). An absent father. I cannot explain why, this is the first example that came to my mind. For many reasons, a father can be absent in a lifetime: incessant work, distance, ignorance, denial or abandonment. The reasons may be many, but the result is the same: huge disappointment and emptiness in the heart. So necessarily, presenting you God as your Father will not be able to make you want to know Him. But here is what the Bible says about it in Psalm 145: 8: "The Lord is near to all who call on him, To all who call on him with sincerity". If you call Him, He will answer you without a doubt. A manipulative father. It is very destructive. An oppressive and manipulative relationship is bad for humans. It hurts to be used to serve some other person's plans or goals, and when that person turns out to be a parent, the pain is even worse. I'm not a professional, but I have an idea of the impact this must have on the mind. However, God is not a manipulator, He cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13) and we are the habitation of his Holy Spirit, which means that the Spirit teaches us the heart of the Father ( 1 Corinthians 3:16)! In addition, God does not keep it a secret if we choose to be close enough to Him to listen to Him. This is what one version of Psalm 25:14 tells us, “The secret of the Lord is to those who fear him, to make known to them his covenant.” So the chances that He will choose to manipulate us are ... nonexistent! A silent Father. A bit like what I developed in the first point, we can think of a father who is physically present but silent. Who does not give advice, who keeps his advice and opinions to himself. The Bible says that a father corrects his children, following God's pattern (Proverbs 3:12), and God Himself speaks to His children because He has plans for them. as a verse that we love very much in the team puts it so well: Jeremiah 29:11. These passages also show us that God is not a "lax" father who lets his children go, a model that a good parent has a duty to follow in raising their children in the manner of the Heavenly Father. A "heartless" father Some parents may believe that a strict upbringing goes hand in hand with a loveless upbringing. The child thus grows up in an almost unhealthy fear of his parents. Once again, I am far from being a professional. But what I do know is that it seems even plants need love. So how much more a child! It is with love that God wishes to teach and educate us. And here is not one or two but four verses that show us the love and mercy that the Father wants to show us. Psalm 103: 13: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” James 1:17: “Every excellent grace and every perfect gift come down from above, from the Father of lights, in whom there is neither change nor shadow of variation.” Luke 6:36: “Be therefore merciful as your Father is merciful” Romans 5: 5: “Now this hope does not deceive, because the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” So, I realize that our human parents are not perfect. And if they are nearing perfection, there is certainly one thing that may have disappointed you and caused you not to want to trust God, or to have difficulty understanding why to see Him as a good Father. But today, I invite you to see it differently; see the Father differently. Do
0 Comments
Hi everyone, it's Eli.
I don't write as much here due to time and a million other constraints from life, which is sad. I love what we have here and what we are doing here. It truly gives me joy to know that this is a space where we can share and love the Father, God. That's through praise, worship, reading and music. I love it all and truly consider myself to be edified by the articles that I am fortunate enough to read and help translate. I just felt touched to talk to you all today of a specific thing that I saw and that has caught my eye. I've applied it to my life and would love to share it with you all here. But to understand, I need to bring you all to the book of Matthew 6:5 - 15. For the eagle-eyed believers who remember every Bible-verse, you know exactly what's going on. For those of you who are like me, still learning, it's the prayer that we call the "Our Father". To give you a brief understanding of what is going on, Jesus is being asked how to pray. In true godly fashion - something that is rebellious in today's culture - He starts by saying what not to do. Don't be hypocrites that cry out your random sentences for prayers, but be private in your faith by seeking God in your room, away from people while speaking from the heart. Then He gives us the Our Father. But that's the part I want to focus on: He's our Father. Jesus, in all of His infinite love and wonder, doesn’t tell us to call the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, the Alpha and the Omega anything other than “Father”. That means a lot. A good father gives their child their name and a legacy. They teach their child to be just and right; respectful to all and loving in strength. While we may not of all have had amazing father figures in our lives, we can all at least understand what a Father is supposed to do, and that’s a deep and innate feeling we all have. By calling God “Father”, we are communicating a deep and personal connection that He wants with us. It’s why He tells us later on in the book of Matthew to call no other man Father: it’s so you keep that connection with God The Father as holy and sacred as possible (Matthew 23:9). Those who follow Jesus in truth and in spirit are told to call God Father, for we are His children. I like to think of Jesus as being the ultimate older brother as He doesn’t just tell us what to do: he does it as well. As Jesus died for our sins, he called upon the Father, saying: Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do [...] Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. (Luke 23:34, 46) Remember how I told you that Jesus told this to His disciples and to His followers? They didn’t take His words lightly. They continued to preach the good news to all of the nations, proclaiming God as The Father. The Apostle John would say “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1 John 3:1). Even Paul, who never saw Jesus during His time on earth, would continue by saying in 1 Corinthians 8:6: “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” And now there is you. I’m going to encourage you to follow Christ in the way that you pray and address the God that loves you so much. Call Him the Father and continue to foster the personal relationship that you have with Him. I encourage you to make him more than just the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but make Him your Father and your one true God as well. Sincerely yours, may the Father bless you, Eli P.S: Writing this article made me think of the song "How Deep the Father’s Love for us" we shared a while ago in the playlist. Feel free to go back and listen to it! |
AuthorSAt So What Now? we have a plethora of authors that all give us their exciting perspectives on Christ and life, including Do, Little Feet and Eli! Archives
November 2021
Categories |