What About the Father
If you have read anything that I have written, you are aware that I am passionate about life. I believe that life is the point! God breathed life into us at the Creation and Jesus came to give us life (John 10:10)! God desires for each of us to experience the life to the fullest that He created us to live.
We are all aware that Jesus’ role in giving us this life was His death on the cross to pay the price for our sins and His resurrection that broke the power of death. There is no possibility of having this life without accepting what Jesus did. But what about the role of God the Father? What role does He play in our experience of life.
The truth is that the Father is the source of life. Without Him, there is no life. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). Jesus’ role was to connect us to the Father because the Father is the true source of life. In Jesus’ priestly prayer to the Father in John 17 he says, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (v3). The entire trinity is involved in our experience of life because Jesus connects us to the Father who is the source of life and the Holy Spirit indwells us to sustain that life and connection.
Relationally, it is the Father that gives us identity, affirms us and gives us a calling that provides purpose to our lives. In the Garden of Eden the Father told Adam who he was, walked with him in the cool of the day and gave him a job to do caring for the garden. At the baptism of Jesus, it was the Father’s voice that said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Our relationship with the Father will make us secure in our identity and give us a sense of calling in the world. We are called to represent, reflect and reveal the Father in the dignity and nobility of our calling as sons and daughters of God!
Unfortunately, the brokenness of our earthly fathers may produce obstacles to this vital relationship with God as Father. We are born physically connected to our mothers and nurtured at her breast for the first years of life. It is the father who is to call us out, teaching us to risk, question, explore, etc., so that we can discover who we are and have him affirm and bless that identity. If our earthly father was absent, passive, dismissive, critical, demanding, cold, abusive, etc., it is easy for us to project those qualities onto God and struggle to accept His loving pursuit of us. Where God the Father wants to bring security and affirmation, we feel insecure and confused.
If you struggle to enjoy an intimate relationship with God as Father it may be a good idea to explore possible father wounds that block that relationship. This is not about blaming your earthly father, it is simply about understanding the wound, releasing it through forgiveness and surrender and then choosing to believe the truth spoken into you by God as Father! In my book Ten Life Choices, the chapters on Choose Forgiveness, Choose Truth, Choose Surrender may be helpful in working through these wounds.
Remember the goal is life and life finds its source in God the Father. Allow Him to pursue you in love. Allow Him to confirm who you are and what your calling in life is and then listen for His affirming voice!