Like Father, Like God

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11, ESV). Merry Christmas! Someone has said, “Most people spend their lives avoiding God because it is a re-encounter with their own father who was nonbonding and non affirming.” One of the main reasons people hold false perceptions of God is our tendency to project onto God the unloving characteristics of the people we look up to. One psychologist found that this spiritual development of the God image is more of an emotional process than an intellectual one. She brings out the importance of family and other relationships to the development of what she calls one’s “private God.” She says that, “No child arrives at the ‘house of God’ without his pet God under his arm.” And for some of us the “pet God” we have tied on a leash to our hearts is not very nice, nor is it biblically accurate. This is because our negative images of God are often rooted in our emotional hurts and destructive patterns of relating to people that we carry with us from our past. In contrast to the negative perceptions many people have about God, let me give you several positive character qualities of a father. These are the real characteristics of God.  First, God is patient. You are the recipient of God’s time and concern. You are important to God and He is personally involved in every aspect of your life.  Second, God is kind. God acts kindly and graciously on your behalf. God helps you and intervenes on your behalf. God loves you deeply and He wants to relate to you personally.  Third, God is giving. God gives to you and supports you. God supports and encourages you. God will give you what is best for you.  Fourth, God accepts you, what you have done or will do. God doesn’t dump on you or reject you when you struggle, but understands and encourages you. Even when you blow it or don’t perform up to your potential, God accepts you.  Fifth, God protects. You can be His care and rest in His security through the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. The first Person of the Trinity is Father. When you accept His work of grace on your behalf through faith in Jesus Christ, you are born into a new family with God as your perfect Father.