Father

Father

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

WHILE I WAS READING in my Bible one morning, it struck me how often God refers to himself as our Father. As a therapist, I’ve met many people over the years with complicated family histories. Some clients had wonderful earthly fathers, but many had awful, even abusive fathers. Oftentimes I found that a person’s view of God was based, at least in part, on the perception they had of their earthly father. Many who had a hard time with their earthly father would also see their heavenly Father as mean and unapproachable, someone to be feared. But those who had a good relationship with their father saw God as loving and kind.

I began to see how important our earthly family relationships are in the views that we have of God. For those clients who had a difficult childhood and now a healthy view of God as their Father, I noticed they most often had done a lot of work to proactively see God for who he really is, as a loving Father. Through these interactions, I realized that it’s possible for us, no matter what kind of earthly father we had, to see God as the kind and loving Father he wants to be to all of us.

The truth is we can believe that God is a loving Father because we know that he does not change. His character stays the same. And this is such good news no matter what our early memories or experiences have been, because we can trust that God is good. That he is loving and kind. That he offers us good gifts, always.

Lord, thank you that you do not change and for being such a good Father to us. Help us to cling to what we know is true about you and your character and to release anything that does not line up with who we know you to be. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Think about what kind of early family relationships shaped your view of God, and then spend time today in prayer, either thanking him for those examples, or asking God to show you who he is as your Father who loves you.