Throughout the fall of last year, we went through the book of Judges and saw that the Israelites lived like people with no king. Week after week we talked about the need for us to acknowledge that we truly do have a King in Jesus. Jesus rules with kindness, grace, and perfect love!
We spent so many months looking at Jesus as King, that last week’s Scripture stopped me in my tracks. I had been studying the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), and I realized I was having a hard time thinking of God as my Father. After months of envisioning God as my King, it seemed to me to take boldness, courage, and chutzpah to call God “my Father.”
He is the Almighty God, the Creator of all things, and I dare to call Him “Father?” I dare to call the One who controls heaven and hell “Father?” The all-knowing, ever-present, and all-controlling deity, and I dare to call Him “Father?” Who do I think I am?
It’s overwhelming to imagine standing before the Creator of all things and to call Him “Father.” And even more than that, to act and speak as a kid acts and speaks before a loving and caring dad. It’s shocking. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful.
And here’s the secret: it doesn’t truly take courage and chutzpah to call God “my Father.” It just takes belief.
To call God “Father” is simply to live in the space that Jesus created for us through His death on the cross. Like we saw in the story of the Prodigal Son, we are to move from residing far from God as His enemy or on the other side town as a stranger, and we are to move close to Him, into our own bedroom as a child in His family, in His house. We then can wake up every morning and see our Father sipping a cup of coffee and saying, “Good morning, my child,” as we respond, “Good morning, Dad.”
You see, when we live in His house of belonging, when we turn from the ways of the world and move into the room built by Jesus, we now see God not merely as Master or Lord or King, but as the very One that made us and named us.
“Our Father”… two of the most amazing words we ever utter.
Peace,
Nick
We spent so many months looking at Jesus as King, that last week’s Scripture stopped me in my tracks. I had been studying the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), and I realized I was having a hard time thinking of God as my Father. After months of envisioning God as my King, it seemed to me to take boldness, courage, and chutzpah to call God “my Father.”
He is the Almighty God, the Creator of all things, and I dare to call Him “Father?” I dare to call the One who controls heaven and hell “Father?” The all-knowing, ever-present, and all-controlling deity, and I dare to call Him “Father?” Who do I think I am?
It’s overwhelming to imagine standing before the Creator of all things and to call Him “Father.” And even more than that, to act and speak as a kid acts and speaks before a loving and caring dad. It’s shocking. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful.
And here’s the secret: it doesn’t truly take courage and chutzpah to call God “my Father.” It just takes belief.
To call God “Father” is simply to live in the space that Jesus created for us through His death on the cross. Like we saw in the story of the Prodigal Son, we are to move from residing far from God as His enemy or on the other side town as a stranger, and we are to move close to Him, into our own bedroom as a child in His family, in His house. We then can wake up every morning and see our Father sipping a cup of coffee and saying, “Good morning, my child,” as we respond, “Good morning, Dad.”
You see, when we live in His house of belonging, when we turn from the ways of the world and move into the room built by Jesus, we now see God not merely as Master or Lord or King, but as the very One that made us and named us.
“Our Father”… two of the most amazing words we ever utter.
Peace,
Nick