How we relate to our father's can have a deep impact on our view of God. Our parents and particularly our fathers are such powerful authority figures in our formative years. When our parents fail us in significant ways, our ability to trust and believe is scarred and damaged. When we hear as Christians that 'God is our Father' we shudder and draw back from faith. When our parents are nurturing, supportive and protective we can better relate to the concept of God as Father.
Sadly, our heavenly father is being slandered all over the world by men who abuse their power and authority. For too many children, an abusive father figure can only instill fear and not faith. A deep chasm develops when we assume that Father God will be like all the other imperfect authority figures in our lives. God has all power and authority but he doesn't force it down our throats and demand love. Our heavenly Father reveals his love and kindness and woos us into a relationship of willful surrender and trust.
When our parents are unfaithful in their care for us....when there is deep inconsistency between what they promise and what they deliver, we doubt God and his promises. We need to be honest and reflective of how we got to where we are in our faith.... or lack of faith. God's word tell us, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you...I am with you always even to the end of the age". (Heb. 13:5; Matt 28:20) But a question we often ask is "But if God loves me so much, then why haven't I felt him or seen him?" It isn't God who has failed to reveal himself. The failure lies in those who claim to know him and yet don't become his hands and feet in a very dark and broken world. Jesus is drawn to hard places and broken people. Alas, many of his followers prefer comfort and ease and refuse to go to where the Spirit calls them.
This Sunday is Father's day. All this week I am reflecting on my own performance as a father. I have two adult son's and one soon to be adult daughter. I know my weaknesses, failures and inconsistencies. But I don't lose heart because I know that the love of our Heavenly Father is so present in our lives together. The power of faith and the power of his amazing love in our lives brings healing where otherwise there would only be regret, bitterness and anger. The tragedy of disconnecting ourselves from the perfect love of God the Father can never heal the wounds of abuse, betrayal and disappointment.
Who will go to the hurting and lonely individuals and families who know only brokenness and pain in their relational world? For so many of us our view of 'mission' is distorted and incomplete. Jesus commands us to go into all the world with his love and the romance of foreign lands and culture spur many onward and outward. But what of the broken relationships and broken people in our own families. The soul that is near is not of lesser value than the one in foreign lands.
There are so many teachers about faith....but so few true fathers and mothers of faith. It costs much more to love purely and sacrificially the people near to us than those on the other side of the world. The grind of daily life responsibilities reveals more about who we are than any spectacular acts of service 'for humanity'.
Instead of condemning those without faith, I want to live my life in such as way that it will be less likely for someone not to believe in a God of love. How can we do that? The only way I know is to allow the extravagant love of Father God to overwhelm me with his amazing grace....grace of provision, grace of forgiveness, grace of purpose, grace of tender care and protection. I have a Father of perfected love and on this Father's day and onward I want it to show in how I live.
Jim
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