Father's Day 2008
So what does it mean to be a father?
I guess we have to ask Our Father in Heaven.
Today in church, we recited:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
What does this mean?
How is God a father?
Why is God a father?
It seems to me that God wants to be intimate with us.
To assume the name "father," assumes an intimacy.
Father also commands respect.
Father also expresses pride in creation.
When I look at Josie, or Silas, I fill with pride.
But all of our conceptions of the Fatherhood of God are ultimately reduced to rubble. At least, I hope they are.
We, as dads, will never be like God.
We, as dads, will never assume the role of the 'perfect father."
If often try to be a "perfect dad."
This gets me into trouble. It gets me in trouble because it is so self centered.
As I think about my own dad, I am reminded of all of his unselfish deeds.
I think about him going to work every day, for forty years, to put bread on the table.
I think of him taking us to play ball.
He was unselfish.
But he did not think he was being unselfish.
He was just doing what was right, and good, and pleasing to God.
We all have that barometer in us that tells us what God wants us to do.
I think we are just so "given over to our desires," that we forget how to discern with the spirit.
We have been "given over to our base desires."
So on this fathers day, I pray, for myself, and for my fellow fathers out there, that we would be unselfish, that we would look to the Fatherhood of God, and that we would rejoice that God wants to be intimate with us.
God chose the cross to reveal his intimacy with us.
He came down to join our humanity.
He send his son to die, for us, to restore our family to Him.
Sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is to fall flat on our faces.
Sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is to show them that ultimately the Fatherhood of God, the person of the Father will get them through any mess that has been made of their lives.
I remember when I first called God "Father," and I really meant it.
It was a joyous experience.
It happened in Spain in 1999. It was two years after my conversion to Christ.
A Hindua man helped me realize that the Fatherhood of God is precious, holy, and wonderful.
It often takes Non-Christians to help Christians be better Christians.
That is enough non-linear rambling for one day.
Praise God for all you fathers out there.
Peter
I guess we have to ask Our Father in Heaven.
Today in church, we recited:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
What does this mean?
How is God a father?
Why is God a father?
It seems to me that God wants to be intimate with us.
To assume the name "father," assumes an intimacy.
Father also commands respect.
Father also expresses pride in creation.
When I look at Josie, or Silas, I fill with pride.
But all of our conceptions of the Fatherhood of God are ultimately reduced to rubble. At least, I hope they are.
We, as dads, will never be like God.
We, as dads, will never assume the role of the 'perfect father."
If often try to be a "perfect dad."
This gets me into trouble. It gets me in trouble because it is so self centered.
As I think about my own dad, I am reminded of all of his unselfish deeds.
I think about him going to work every day, for forty years, to put bread on the table.
I think of him taking us to play ball.
He was unselfish.
But he did not think he was being unselfish.
He was just doing what was right, and good, and pleasing to God.
We all have that barometer in us that tells us what God wants us to do.
I think we are just so "given over to our desires," that we forget how to discern with the spirit.
We have been "given over to our base desires."
So on this fathers day, I pray, for myself, and for my fellow fathers out there, that we would be unselfish, that we would look to the Fatherhood of God, and that we would rejoice that God wants to be intimate with us.
God chose the cross to reveal his intimacy with us.
He came down to join our humanity.
He send his son to die, for us, to restore our family to Him.
Sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is to fall flat on our faces.
Sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is to show them that ultimately the Fatherhood of God, the person of the Father will get them through any mess that has been made of their lives.
I remember when I first called God "Father," and I really meant it.
It was a joyous experience.
It happened in Spain in 1999. It was two years after my conversion to Christ.
A Hindua man helped me realize that the Fatherhood of God is precious, holy, and wonderful.
It often takes Non-Christians to help Christians be better Christians.
That is enough non-linear rambling for one day.
Praise God for all you fathers out there.
Peter
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