Father

I have two children. There are some things that people without children might not fully understand. I knew before my wife became pregnant that I wanted children. Don't ask me how, but with both of my kids I knew even at conception that they were on the way. I remember the circumstances of both, even to this day.

My daughter was born first, and there were complications enough that I wasn't that concerned about her. I was very worried about the health of my wife. So I didn't have time to contemplate just then the exquisite mysteries of having a new member of the family.

But when my son was born, as I looked at him in the delivery room I was blown away by the thought that here was bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, and yet we didn't know each other! We had an automatic familial intimacy, and yet there were no memories, or history!

As my kids have grown, I have been with them through each developmental stage. I have stepped in to encourage each of them, and sometimes to chew them out if that is necessary. I love them, so I care about their development, and about their future.

Regarding whatever the future holds, whether it be fame and glory or disgrace and prison, through it all I will always love my children. It's an autonomic response, almost. Whatever my cost, when they fall short, I will step in to help them.

Jesus called God, "Father" and instructed us to pray to God, "Our Father...". I think each of us are meant to draw similarities between our Earthly (or 'physical') father and our Creator (or 'spiritual') father, otherwise this analogy would have not been used.

Regardless of anything else God loves us and has loved us from before we were born unto the far reaches of eternity. He may be saddened, disappointed, or even angered, as I would be if my child were to end up in prison or worse. But the love is still there, despite the disappointment.

The Bible says that

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8 NASB)

and

"We love, because He first loved us.” (1Jo 4:19 NASB)

It is OUR love that is the response to God, not the other way around.

Whatever a person produces, or what grows out of his spiritual life is considered 'fruit'.
'Fruit' is an indicator of a working together of two things- faith and action (works).

“But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” (Jam 2:20 NASB, similarly Jam 2:26)

Maybe it would be easier to call this catalysis 'faith-works' because it is both, inseparable.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal 5:22,23 NASB)

Fruits of the Spirit grow from acting on a faith in God. Acting out of obligation (the law) produces guilt, whereas acting from faith is only from joy.

What the flesh produces grow from acting from a lack of faith.

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19 NASB)

So we are agreed about our personal choices, and owning the consequences, right?

But the truth is, without God's grace, our 'faith-works' will always fall short. We can't do it on our
own. We miss the mark. The Greek word for 'sin' is hamartia (Strongs #266) and it means to fall short, or to miss the mark, as in an archer shooting an arrow and missing the bulls-eye. None of us is perfect. We are only human, not God. Even if we have the greatest faith possible and do everything within our power, it is not enough that we do not still need God's help agreed?

We can gather seeds for planting, and at the right time we go ahead and plant. And we protect, fertilize, and even artificially irrigate, but can we really be so bold as to take the credit for growth of the crop, without acknowledging the sun, or how we got the seeds in the first place? Truth is, even our best efforts ON THEIR OWN fall short!

If we are saved not by our own 'faith-works' but by the grace of God, then why do we even need our own efforts at all? Why doesn't God just do it all, from the beginning? The answer to this is found in looking at Earthly parent-child relationships. Can your father or mother learn how to ride your bike, and then ride your bike FOR you? No.

Until you learn from them how to ride your bike for yourself, you will never be able to go on a bike ride with your parents.

So your 'faith-works' is not to benefit God, it is to benefit YOU.

And if God did it all for you, would you understand your own free will, your own sentience?

God is deeply concerned about our life choices, how they affect our lives and how they may impact our future, just as I am concerned about my kids' progress in school, and extra-curricular activities.

In the life of Jesus, God modeled for us how to live. The Jewish people of Jesus' day chafed under the rule of the Romans, and hoped for the coming of their messiah that would deliver them from Roman oppression. Jesus, as suffering servant, fell short of their expectations. He intentionally missed the mark. In a sense you could say that Jesus became 'sin' (hamartia) to them. But did Jesus really 'miss the mark' at all? No, Jesus precisely and purposely hit the heart of the target, which is selfless love, the selfless love of a parent helping his child.

This is what it means in the Bible when it talks about the corner-stone (upon which all is built) became a stumbling block. They stumbled and fell, over Jesus.

Jesus' self-sacrifice was a mirror, or a restating of God's love in sending him.

What are we to learn? How do we apply this to our modern lives? How can we be Christ-like, truly like Jesus and impacting others lives as Jesus did?

Every so often I remind my kids that I was not put here to be their friend, but their father. It does hurt my feelings when they say they hate me because of some judgment that they don’t agree with. But they don’t see the bigger picture that I do. So I can’t evaluate the value of my parenting solely by the criteria of their feelings.

Similarly, Jesus did not curry favor with anyone. Neither should we. We shouldn’t purposely alienate others, but we don’t need to put on fake smiles and suck up to them either.

But truly helping others is another story entirely. Rather than be a sanctimonious moralizer (which Jesus was not, and did not want for us to be) how about treating every single interaction you have as HOLY?
“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified...” (1Pe 4:11 NASB)


I saw William Shatner's interview of Carole Burnett not long ago on the TV show ‘Raw Nerve’, and she related how a rich businessman bankrolled her start into show business, with two provisos. First, he wanted to remain anonymous. Second, if she became a success she had to do the same for others. This is a picture of what we are asked to do. The word 'gospel' means 'Good News' and the rich businessman's offer to bankroll her start in show business was the good news. The only 'bad news' was the very small sacrifice of helping others in the same way.

How can we model unselfishness and caring love, so that others might be inspired to do the same? How can we stop modeling selfishness, and stop looking after our own self-interests?