“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” -1 John 3:1

One of the things that we like to talk about the most in our church is the fatherhood of God. This aspect of his character is central to who he is. The more I come to know God and walk through my life with him, the more I know him as Father. From the beginning God wanted children. Ever since, we have been rebellious sons. He is hungry to know us and care for us, but we don’t trust him, and we want to do life our own way. I enjoy spending time with families in the church who have young children. You can learn a lot about yourself and your own immaturities with God by watching how young children interact with their fathers. I thought it would be a good idea to share a few of these lessons that I have picked up.

Vengeance

I was talking with a little girl in the church the other day. I was praying on the porch, watching the rain fall, and she asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was talking with God, and I asked her if she would like to pray with me. What she told me took me a bit off guard. She told me, “Sometimes my parents spank me. I don’t like this, so I pray that God would spank them.” A part of me wanted to smile and think “kids say the darnedest things,” but the rest of me was sad. I know her parents quite well and I know they love her very much. I also know that she can be a brat and needs someone to teach her how to behave. I’m not going to address the debate about spanking here. What I want to address is the fact that we often take this attitude with God.

God’s discipline is always just. We always need it, but we seldom think so at the time. When God does his work in breaking us, we often want to simply rebel and fight against his hand. We want him to be ’spanked’ instead. We cry and complain as we stomp up the steps to our room. Why don’t we simply learn our lesson and obey him? If we simply took his discipline and followed him, we would not need to be chastised any further. Unfortunately, our hearts are much harder and more rebellious than that most of the time. We want to strike back at God instead of humbling ourselves.

Individuality

One of our pastors, Chad, has five daughters. They range from a chunky baby to a preteen who plays the violin. They each have totally different personalities and different issues. A few years back, I was on a retreat at Aldersgate camp. Chad brought several of his daughters with him to this particular retreat. As I was sitting on the grass enjoying the afternoon I watched his daughters play in a little creek. Chad had the whole thing under control; I was impressed. He knew exactly what each of his daughters needed and how to deal with them. He had a relationship with each of them in who they were rather than relating to them simply as a group.

So much is lost when we leech off of someone else’s relationship with the Father. We talk about God in these abstract terms sometimes and try to group together under common experiences of him. We let our pastors tell us how he is rather than coming to know him ourselves. The problem is that God will often reveal different aspects to us at different times because it is what we need then. Now let me be clear, I’m not talking about relativism. I’m not saying, “we all have different perspectives, so let’s all just hold hands and get along.” I think there are a ton of people out there who have totally wrong ideas about God, and they are totally contradictory to the Father that I know. I think it is fine for us to stand up for truth that we do know. What I’m talking about is coming into an individual relationship with the Father where he is able to deal with you specifically rather than simply following around your siblings.