Eternally Father

            The first chapter of a book I’ve been reading in preparation for our upcoming “Thinking About God Thursdays” has a question for a title: “What Was God Doing Before Creation?” The book is Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith by Michael Reeves. In this chapter he emphasizes the foundational fact about God: that he is Father. All that God does he does as a Father. All his ways are beautifully fatherly. A few excerpts…

            “… the Father is called Father because he is a Father. And a father is a person who gives life, who begets children. Now that insight is like a stick of dynamite in all our thoughts about God. For if, before all things, God was eternally a Father, then this God is an inherently outgoing, life-giving God. He did not give life for the first time when he decided to create; from all eternity he has been life giving.”

            “The Father, then, is the Father of the eternal Son. There was never a time when he didn’t exist. If there were, then God is a completely different sort of being. If there were once a time when the Son didn’t exist, then there was once a time when the Father was not yet a Father. And if that is the case, then once upon a time God was not loving since all by himself he would have had nobody to love.”

            “… the way the Father makes known his love is precisely through giving his Spirit… It is all deeply personal: the Spirit stirs up the delight of the Father in the Son and the delight of the Son in the Father, inflaming their love and so binding them together ‘in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ (2 Corinthians 13:14).”

            As I think about these things, the truly awesome thing for me is that Jesus “folds me in”, if you will, to the “family”. When I received Christ, God became my Father (John 1:10-12). When Jesus teaches me to pray, he invites me to begin by saying, “Our Father…”. After Jesus rises from the dead, he tells me (via Mary in the garden), “I ascend to my Father and your Father.” And I am permitted to speak intimately to the Father (whereby we cry, ‘Abba, Father’) just as Jesus did. It’s all so much deeper, wider, and higher than my human understanding of “father”. Earthly fathers may range from being great dads to evil monsters. But every earthly image and idea of fatherhood falls short of the perfections of God the Father. And it is so truly awesome to be the child of a holy, loving, and perfect Father. All glory and honor to him for making me his child!

John 1:10-13 (NIV) ¹⁰  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- ¹³  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Matthew 6:9 (NIV) ⁹  "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

John 20:16-17 (NIV) ¹⁶  Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). ¹⁷  Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Romans 8:15 (NIV) ¹⁵  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

PRAYER:  Father, thank you that I can call you so. Thank you that your very nature is to give life. You have done so in me. The life you give is so much greater than just a body that breathes with a heart that beats. You have placed eternity in my heart and made me an object of your Fatherly love. You have made to be in your family. This is truly amazing and wonderful. I am blessed. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott