Yesterday was Fathers’ Day and Stephen spoken on fathers. Everyone has had a biological father (even if that person was unknown to us), but how we view our fathers changes over years:
– at 4 years – “My daddy can do anything”
– at 7 years – “My daddy knows a lot, a whole lot”
– at 8 years – “My father doesn’t quite know everything”
– at 12 years – “Oh well, of course Father doesn’t know everything”
– at 14 years – “Father, oh, he is so old-fashioned”
– at 21 years – “He’s great. Just a bit out of date. What did you expect?”
– at 25 years – “He knows a little bit about it, but not much.”
– at 30 years – “I must find out what Dad thinks about it”
at 50 years – “What would Dad have thought about it?”
at 60 years – “I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.”
Our own fathers inevitably influence our view of fatherhood and how we decide to model ourselves. When thinking about this subject, we might think of characteristics such as being strict, or strong, or masterful, or protective or caring or trustworthy or loving. This, then, can spill over into how we view God as our heavenly Father. Are we viewing Him with the eyes of a four year old, a fourteen year old or a sixty year old?
The Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9-15) talks about the relationship we can all have with our Heavenly Father. This shows us our Heavenly Father as caring, preserving, upholding and forgiving. We can communicate with Him. He is approachable. Matt 11:28-30 reminds us also that our heavenly Father wants us to come to Him with our burdens and loads and share these with Him. The Bible is full of descriptions of God and can teach us more about the Fatherhood of God. How do we see Him?