Why Knowing God as a Father Matters
Posted by Nate Bush on Mar 05, 2010
Many dads are jacked up and that’s why some people rarely spend time to think about God as a Father. Jesus introduces the Father and child relationship to us. It is Jesus’ relationship to His father that should be our focus. In Luke 15:11-32 Jesus tells a story about a father and his two sons. Two things stand out about the father in the story: he is an approachable and forgiving father, and he is a strong and leading father.
This mixture (found most obviously in a good parent) of friendship and lordship is exactly the point of knowing God as a father. Without this mixture, people misunderstand who God is.
God is a friend (John 15:13), but not merely a friend. If you see God as merely a friend, you will have a weak and irrelevant faith. If God is only a friend, He can only give you advice and not commands. He cannot lead you. Many people reject Christianity because many Christians have this false view of God. They are frequently called hypocrites.
God is a lord (Deuteronomy 6:4), but not merely a lord. If you see God as merely a lord you will never know God personally, and your attention will only focus on the details of the law. You will either be crushed by the pressure of measuring up because you never feel welcomed into the forgiving presence of God, or you will be led into a self-righteousness. If your acceptance by God rests solely in your obedience, you will become self-righteous and intolerant. Many people reject Christianity because they see self-righteous Christians who stand in constant judgment of others with very little appetite for forgiveness and acceptance.
My hope is that you will know God has a father, a good father. One who has the authority to tell you how to live and to direct your paths and one who is forgiving and accepting of you even when you fail. A father whom you can always approach and who always has something good and authoritative to say to you.
