“May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be praised.” So said Peter and Paul. So say we. The Father from whom every family in heaven and earth is named. The Father from whom all fatherhood originates.
Fathers and families. Happy fathers’ day to all the fathers. Not always an enviable job. In fact these days a pretty despised job, to be a father. A significant minority seems to think we don’t really need fathers in families.
One of the problems is that some fathers have given the rest a bad name. And some have confused their bad, or not-very-good human father with God. But God is not, in the first place, our father. He is first of all the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that relationship which tells us what kind of a father he is. He is a very good one, if the Bible is to be believed,
He becomes the father of believers in two ways. Those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus are adopted by Jesus’ Father. They are given the adopting Spirit, the Spirit of the Son, so that now they can call the Father of the Lord Jesus, their father.
This means they are adopted into his family, made part of his household, his church. We are that family here at Lockridge. He keeps on blessing and guiding and showing us such great mercy and kindness.
And he helps the fathers. He shows us what a father is like. Fatherhood and motherhood come from him. From him we learn how to love and nurture and guide. And from him we learn that being a father or a mother is a great and divine gift.
How much does he bless us by placing us in families. How much does he bless us by placing us in his very own family where he lives. We are always at home with our Father. Together we can speak as a family to “Our Father”.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dale