Our Father

As a father and a grandfather I am, from time to time, faced with challenges. Children and grandchildren have inherited from me a condition that leads to those challenges- sin. For the myriad ways they are and can be blessings there are an equal number of ways they can be a frustration. They don’t do as they are told. They are not grateful for what I do for and give to them. They grumble and complain, and quite often ignore me. All of which reminds me… of me.

One of the ways I try to do better with my frustration is to remember that I’m not only a man with authority, but a man under authority. I try to remember that I am a son to the only perfect Father. I too don’t do as I am told. I too am not grateful for what He has done for and given to me. I too am given to grumbling and complaining. And quite often, I ignore Him.

I’m not suggesting that my frustrations are born out of the outworking of karma. I am suggesting that just as I pray that my Father would show me grace, compassion and forgive me, that I would do the same for those under my charge. I should not be surprised that my imperfect descendants disobey their imperfect father/grandfather when imperfect I disobey my perfect Father.

I’ve long grumbled that we allow the modernism that still shapes our thinking to gut the truth of biblical metaphors. The Bible calls God our heavenly Father and instead of leaning into all that such communicates we reduce it down to something inane. We are willing to affirm that His father-ness means He is loyal to us and an authority over us, but we pretty much stop there. We don’t get that our sins not only deny His authority, but deny His good intentions for us. We think He’s mean and stingy, a killjoy rather than the font and giver of joy.

Jesus Himself emphasized this point in Luke 11, comparing the ordinary kindness of an earthly father with the amazing grace of our heavenly Father. His goodness toward us includes every good gift He gives us, including not only children and grandchildren but including the frustrations they often bring with them. He handles our failures as His children perfectly. And He sends the failure of our children and grandchildren into our lives to perfect us. Contemplating the goodness of my Father inspires me to do better as a Father. I want those under my care to be able to enter fully into metaphor because they are accustomed to receiving grace, love and attention from me. I want the same for all children. Fatherhood wasn’t just a pre-existing reality that God glommed on to to make a point about how He feels about us. Rather it is baked into both relationships. We know about fathers because we know about Him. We know about Him because we know about fathers.

Our Father is in heaven. And He is with us. Let us praise Him and give thanks.