“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” Romans 8:15,16
Years ago, there were a mother and two daughters who attended the church where Virginia and I were serving as pastors. They were family and we loved them, but they put to the test the old saying that “you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives.” With relatives you get what you God gives you, no more and no less. While they were all a little rough around the edges, the daughters definitely got it from their mom. She had been a long-time smoker and when they began attending services she was already suffering with respiratory problems that required her to carry an oxygen tank with her everywhere.
One day the mother passed away. The daughters quit coming to church and I didn’t see either of them for a while. Then one Sunday the youngest daughter came to church, and she was crying and angry and wanted to know why God took her mom. Here was a lady that tried to live a life pleasing to God, did well fulfilling her obligations as a wife and mother. Why didn’t God heal her? Why did He let her die? If that was all He was going to do, why did He let her be born?
As I sat there looking for some way to comfort her, the Holy Spirit spoke to me as is He were standing right next to me and He said, “He did it because He is a father at heart, and He wanted to have kids!” I was stunned! It was the Father’s heart to have children, just like it is in our hearts to have them!
I’m sure you would agree and confess that every couple or single mother that is abut the bear a child experiences at least a passing thought that it might end in heart break. The child might have physical challenges or might get hurt in an accident. They might make poor choices that hurt their quality of life. They might go to war and not come back. The possibilities that something could go fatally wrong are almost too numerous to mention.
Yet people keep on having children! Why? We do it because it is in our hearts to do it. And it’s in our hearts because it’s in His heart, and we’re His kids.
This was a revelation to me! It brought everything down from the realm of principle to the realm of the practical. Everything that you or I feel for our children, everything we desire for them, hope and wish for them, we get from God our father!
I realized at that moment that not only was God the father of all, but He was also the best father of all. He is the wisest, most patient, misunderstood yet merciful, loving father a person could ever wish for. He only wants the best for us, gives us the best instructions possible (if we would take time to read them and listen to the inner voice), gives us life lessons to help us learn and then gives us the freedom to make our own decisions, choices, and mistakes. And even though He knows that sometimes it will end badly, it is still his heart to have kids. I can only think that somehow, we give Him more pleasure than pain; that somehow His love trumps our waywardness.
My life was changed! My relationship with God was changed. I had the best dad in the world! After having a rocky relationship with my earthly father, I was overwhelmed realizing how good a father could be.
And then the Holy Spirit who started the whole thing piped up again. It was a couple of months after the big revelation, as I was enjoying the Father’s presence that the Spirit said, “Yeah, He’s the best Father ever, but what kind of kid are you?” (That’s really the way He talks to me). And just like that, my world was turned upside down again!
What kind of kid was I? What kind of kid am I? The kindest word I can think of would be “non-compliant”. Does the best Father in the world deserve a non-compliant child? Not the way I see it. He deserves the best kid in the world, certainly a better one than I am! But He continues to love me anyway, and to absolutely cover me in blessings.
Those two revelations were real game changers for me. I think of them every day, and they make me want to be a better kid for Him. Ask yourself these questions; “Do I think of God not just as a Father, or the Father, but as my Father?” And if you do, then ask yourself the question, “What kind of a child am I?”
I think you will find, as I did, that the answers can be a real game changer.
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