My Father, Your Father And Our Father

 

God created the worlds, the invisible and the visible in such a manner that the seen realm is a derivative of and illustrates the unseen realm to a great extent. What I’m trying to say is that God made the physical a reflection, an indicator and a template into what the spiritual realm looks like. Romans 1:20 says “for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” God is indeed a great and a good God.

In this blog post, we want to look at fathers, our biological and heavenly Father. Just as we can be a father or have a biological father whether dead or alive, we all likewise have a heavenly Father. The beautiful and perfect thing is that we all have a perfect biological father. Although, our biological father’s have a vast range of differences, yet, each father is perfect for each child. What then do I mean by we all have a perfect biological father? What I mean is that our heavenly Father gave each and everyone of us a biological father that suit us best.

Our biological fathers measure differently on the yardstick of being caring, hospitable, responsible, accommodating, trustworthy, being available, expressive, intelligent, aesthetics and so much more. We’ve heard of cases that the biological father ran away upon hearing that his wife delivered a triplet in a worse economic condition and many other bad and worst scenarios. One truth that should be quickly established is that wherever my biological father or yours is on the vast gradient of the scale of parental responsibilities and duties, we all must yet and despite look up to the Father of Spirits. Funny enough, our biological fathers in themselves need to likewise look up to the Father of all flesh.

The peculiarities of each biological father which includes their strengths and weaknesses is to the end that God’s ideal idea will be worked out. The workings of God of which I speak of are the firsthand lessons learnt on how to handle psychological, emotional, financial, relational and others into who He wants us to become.  The bible records it that “though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” Suffering in this context means the little unpleasant situations- times and days of hunger, disappointment, frustration and much more.

Hebrews 12:5 to 11 spells out what to expect from a father either our biological father or our heavenly Father or both. This bible text makes us know the reason why fathers do what they do. It reads

“5 and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

Apart from God’s general Fatherhood everyone enjoys, He gives special treatment to a class of people. They are the widows, the fatherless, the poor and strangers. Psalms 68:5 says “a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.” You remember what God did when Abraham went into the land of Egypt? God defended him in the land where he was a stranger.

Another important thing to notice is that there are two types of sonship. The first one is sonship by blood or covenant while the other one is sonship by relationship. The former type of sonship is mandatory before the latter. However, one can be a son by blood or covenant without necessarily being a son by relationship. What I mean by sons by relationship is that such son actively relates with his/her father. And being actively related to ones father entails doing what pleases him.

Matthew 21:28-30 perfectly exemplify the two types of sonship. It reads “but what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.” Both were sons by blood but one went into the other category of sonship.

In essence, let’s ensure we are not just sons by covenant to our heavenly Father but also sons by relationship. Many have been deceived to thinking that just being a son by covenant is all that is required, God wants children that will be sons by relationship the more. It’s sons by relationship that are true sons over just being sons by covenant unto God.

How blessed is it to be called a son of God! The love, the chastisement, the pain, the workings and the outcome. The outcome of all these is unto the glory of God through us.

Thanks for reading.