FATHERING LIKE GOD

Many times people bandy about what God the Father is like. Yet few statements of faith for churches and ministries actually say anything about him other than he created the world and that Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit are coequal and coeternal with him.   Any father wants his son to emulate his best qualities, and with God, all his qualities are great unlike earthly fathers.  Let us look into a few of those.

GOD IS CREATIVE - actually, creation was a joint effort of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Genesis says "we" and also that the Spirit moved on the face of the waters. John 1 states that Jesus was integrally involved in every decision - "Without him was not anything made that was made/"  Father and Son working together - I treasure the time my son spent working with me, and one son and I actually still do some work together now.  God likes to create a world of variety, vibrance, and life.  He wants us to be creative and not to be same-o/same-o - he wants to see variety and vibrance in our creations as well.

GOD IS DIRECTIONAL - our heavenly Father loves to give direction - even though Jesus said plainly that he was doing what he saw his Father doing, he only did what God told him to do.  As his sons, we need to understand that God has a vantage point unparalleled in the universe - he knows every detail of the past and of the future/  People pay a fortune to consultants whose knowledge is embarrassingly trivial compared to God's - yet he wants to be our Counselor and advise use what to do so our paths will be straight and so that we will have good success.  Many rely open books, business gurus, and others for guidance while largely ignoring what God would say to them.  I Want God to speak into my life, my business, my ministry, and he does.

GOD GIVE US ROOM - many children feel the world of their parents is closing in on them.  If we belong to God's family and want to leave, like the father of the Prodigal Son, he will let us leave, and he will let us wallow in the muck and mire, but will always be watching for us to come to our senses
and celebrate if we return.  The father did not pursue that son - he let god the father do it.  God will pursue us, nut not force us. We have to make the commitment to him. We have to repent. We have to come to our senses.

GOD PROVIDES - fathers provide for their sons and God provides for us.  He notices if a bird falls out of a tree or if a hair or two falls off our head.  He meets our needs.  He understands what to give us and what must be withheld for our own good.  He freely shares with us good things.

GOD SACRIFICES - Good dug deep for us, not simply sending us the cattle on a thousand hills, but sending us his son knowing that he would die.  He withheld nothing from us, and we must withhold nothing from our sons.  If we have it, we give it.  God did.

GOD LOVES - any father who rears a son, direct his son, who allows his son to grow and sometimes fail in the process, who provides for his son and sacrifices everything for his son still falls far short if he does not love his son.  Hod the Father loves us, and so we must love and show affection to our sons and assure them that we are in their corner, that we are rooting for them, and that we love them as much as we love ourselves.  After all, that is the biblical standard for loving our neighbors, and our sons are much more than neighbors.

Be a father like God.  If you do not know how, get better acquainted with Father God.  He will show you how to do it.