OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

Matthew 6:9 (NIV)

                In my devotions, I have been reading Tim Keller’s book on prayer. This morning the chapter I read dealt with the Lord’s prayer. I was struck with the thought that Jesus instructs us to approach God as our Heavenly Father.

                What is your image of a father? For some people a father is a person who makes them feel secure and loved. For others a father is a person who doesn’t care and has abandoned them. For some a father is kind and compassionate. For others a father is hard and judgmental. For some a father is close and personal. For others a father is distant and impersonal. The image we have of our earthly father shapes our image of our Heavenly Father.

                In Jesus’ day, as is still common today, God was viewed as distant, unapproachable, judgmental, and harsh. A person did not get close to God. Jesus changed that image in a radical way. When He taught his disciples to pray, He taught them to approach God as their Heavenly Father. Not only were they to view God as their Father, they were to see God in positive, even intimate terms.

                In most churches, we place our primary emphasis on Jesus, our Lord and Our Savior. I think this is right, but it often leads to a distorted view of God the Father. Unintentionally we begin to see God the Father as distant, unapproachable, and someone to fear. The beginning of the Lord’s Prayer opens the door for us to view God the Father from a different perspective.

                There are a couple of things that are implied by that simple phrase, “Our Father in Heaven.” By referring to God as our Father, we acknowledge that we have a relationship with Him. But not just any relationship. As our Father, God is the very source of our life. He has brought us into the world intentionally to live in relationship with Him.

                In addition, we recognize that He is in heaven, which implies that He is different from our fathers on earth. Because we all have different images of our fathers, we need to move outside of our personal experience to encounter the father who stands alone and unique. God is the ultimate standard for who a father should be.

                How does the Bible describe this ultimate Father? Psalm 103 is one of the most complete statements about who God is in relationship with us.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Psalm 103:8-18 (NIV)

                In contrast to the image of God being distant, hard, and judgmental, the Psalmist gives us an image of a compassionate father, who cares for his children beyond measure.

                In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that God is a Father who genuinely cares about our ever need.

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)

                Jesus invites us to approach God, not in fear, but as dearly loved children. Paul tells us that we can expect an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. When we place our faith in Christ, we become adopted into God’s family and we have ready access to the Father.

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." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
Romans 8:15-16 (NIV)

                Children have different ways they address their father. Some call him Dad, some Papa, some Pa, some father. The closer the relationship, the more intimate the name a child will use. The word used in Jesus’ day for an intimate relationship with one’s father was Abba. It is a term of endearment. The Bible invites us to approach God is this way.

                I had the privilege to grow up with a loving, caring father. It is not hard for me to view God in a similar way. For those of you who had a negative relationship with your father, I can understand how hard it can be to see God as your father. But that is exactly what God offers to all of us; He desires to be our Father, to embrace us in His arms of love and enrich our lives.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1a (NIV)