3 Things You Should Expect if God is Your Father
By Michael Kelley
“Father is the Christian name for God” according to JI Packer. He goes on to say:
“'Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption. What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance, and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has.”
Through Christ, God has brought us into His family. He has adopted us, and now the primary way in which we relate to Him is as our Father. As difficult as that might be for those who have had troubled and destructive relationships with their earthly fathers, it is nevertheless true that God desires to be in the kind of relationship where we know Him as Father.
But beyond a way in which to address God, what does that name mean for us? What is it we can expect if God is our Father? Many things, but surely at least these three:
1. Intimacy
God is committed to making sure we understand the nature of the relationship we have with Him. In fact, He wants us to know Him as Father so much so that one of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit is to remind us of the reality of His closeness:
“All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies together without spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom. 8:14-16).
The Holy Spirit of God that lives inside of us is there for many reasons, but a big part of His role is to rise up in us and remind us of our true identity. He’s there to whisper over and over in our spiritual ears, “You are the child of God. He is your Father.” The word, Abba, points to the familiarity and intimacy God desires. That’s a term of closeness. It’s a term of love. Of affection. If God is our Father, then we should expect the kind of intimacy that ought to be a part of that relationship.
2. Care
As Jesus was teaching about prayer in the book of Luke, He pointed to the kind of care that we can expect from God as our Father:
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:11-13).
Jesus’ point is that if we, who are imperfect, know at least a little bit about giving good gifts to our children, then surely our perfect Father knows much more. Problem is, though, care might be misunderstood as comfort.
Because God is the perfect Father, He doesn’t just give good gifts; He give right gifts. In terms of the passage, He knows the difference between a fish and a snake. The same can not be said about us.
Surely there have been times in all our lives when we were convinced we were asking our Father for a fish only to later realize we were actually asking for a snake but didn’t know it. Or, we might have looked in what God was providing for us in His care and thought it was a snake only to later realize it was a fish.
3. Discipline
A good Father exercises discipline on His children. In fact, discipline is one of the ways we know He loves us as a Father:
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all (Heb. 12:7-8).
God uses all kinds of things to discipline us. Circumstances, relationships, decisions to be made—these can all be tools of discipline. Our inclination when we face difficulty is to try and get out from under it as soon as possible. But perhaps we should respond with reflection rather than retreat. If we do, then the question we have during times of difficulty changes from “Why is this happening to me?” to “What is God forming in me?”
God is our Father. And He’s the perfect One. We should expect all these things, and more, from a Father like Him.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.
