The Perfect Father

Matthew 19:14 but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

As I search the Scriptures I do not see very many references to God’s fatherhood. They are there, please don’t misunderstand. But when compared to the frequency of references to God’s justice, righteousness, holiness, and others of His “harder” attributes, His fatherhood may appear to be a characteristic of lesser import. Reaching such a conclusion, however, would be to misunderstand the character of God.

Being a father (poor example as I am of God’s fatherhood) has taught me much about the character of my heavenly Father. I do not act as a father. I am a father. When I read a book to my kids I don’t preface it with, “as your father I am connecting with you in a special way through the reading of this book for your education and the strengthening of our relationship.” When I discipline them I don’t cite my parental authority to carry it out. When I get up before dawn to go to work I don’t announce that my motivation to do so is sleeping in the next room. Nor are these are actions a representation of a mere segment of my life. They are actions overflowing from who I now am. I am a father.

So it is with my Father. He need not say it frequently to make true. He demonstrates it throughout His Word and throughout my life. He provides as a father, disciplines as a father, instructs as a father, even when He doesn’t announce it in those terms. God’s attributes are eternal and therefore present in each and every one of His actions and statements. Unlike my imperfect fatherhood, His actions and statements are perfectly consistent according to His fatherly love for me. And so, I need not fear His “harder” attributes because it is my Father who is the Judge, my Father who is righteous, my Father who is holy, and all the while inviting me, His rebellious son, to walk in a father-son relationship with Him.

Even now through the unspeakable blessing of being a father myself He is drawing me closer to Himself – to His fatherly love towards me. The series of posts that will follow are a handful of those lessons that I rarely share out loud because my leak-happy tear-ducts betray how close these thoughts are to my heart. These vignettes are both convicting and humbling as they never fail to remind me just how finite I am and how perfect He is. My prayer is that these words challenge us all to walk ever more closely with the only One truly worthy of the honorable title, “Father.”