Before we go
any farther I believe it is important to revisit our portion of scripture that
is our “jumping off point”.
John 14:18 “I
will not leave you fatherless. I will come to you.”
There are
several companion passages to this one in the New Testament. One is:
“For you did
not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of
adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are children of God,”
Romans
8:15-16
Luke 3:38 tells
us that Adam was “the son of God.”
We see over
and over again that in God’s restoration of creation, He is not content to
restore the way we think of restoration. He always makes it better than it
originally was. In this case, the glory
of God rested on Adam and Eve (they
were naked and unashamed). Now, His glory lives
within us!
One Story, One Observation
I have a
story to tell and an observation to share, then I will come back to verse 18.
Story
I never knew
my father. He left the family when I was 18 months old. I have no memories of
ever seeing him again. My childhood was truly fatherless and manless. My mother was strong and did her best to be
provider, protector, shepherd, teacher, and mother. Being a mere human, this
was impossible. The unfortunate result in my life was a distorted and confused
understanding of what either father or mother is supposed to be. And my life revealed this lackluster understanding at every turn. (And, in many ways, probably still does. I am a work in progress)
When I
surrendered to the love and Lordship of Christ I was told that God was now my
father. In my creative artist’s mind this presented me with a tremendous
opportunity. You see, I grew up wanting to replace Mike Schmidt at third base
for the Philadelphia Phillies. My mother taught me enough about baseball to get
on a team and get some decent coaching. I took it from there.
From the age
of seven to fifteen, I put in hours every day developing my skills as a
baseball player. I had no one to work with me. I did not realize that I could
ask my coaches to work with me one on one and no one told me I could. So, I
worked alone. I worked as diligently as I could. By fifteen it was obvious that
I was not going to be good enough to make the Rookie League so, I decided to
focus on swimming to try to get a college scholarship.
The one
thing that I always noticed was that the other kids had their dads at their
games. Their dads played catch with them in the back yard. Their dads supported
and were proud of them.
I never had
that.
At
twenty-one I was recently out of the Air Force and born again. I was starting life all over again. I thought, “If
God is my Father, than I want to know what it is like to play baseball with my
Dad.”
I went to
the batting cages with Him. I talked with Him the whole time. Instead of
coaching myself on my technique, I imagined Him telling me what adjustments I
needed to make. It was fun!
Observation
At the time
of this writing, I have been taking up space on this planet for over forty-five
years (counting from conception). I have noticed that, most of the Christian men I've known who are willing to marry single mothers have incredibly blessed
marriages and lives.
I find it to be an amazing phenomenon.
We know that
widows and orphans are dear to God’s heart:
“Pure and
undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and
widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
James 1:27
“You shall
not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and
they cry to at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will
become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and
your children fatherless.” Exodus 22:22-24
“At the end
of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year
and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion
nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who
are within your gates, any come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your
God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.” Deuteronomy
14:28-29 (also Duet. 16:11, 14; Duet. 24:17-21; 26:12-12; 27:19; Psalm 10:14,
18; 82:3; and on and on it goes)
Job believed
that his relationship with God, his wealth, and his place of influence in the
community were directly due to his care for the fatherless, widows, foreigners, and the
poor. (Job 29)
Back To The Beginning
We saw
earlier that Adam was God’s son. And, Jesus, when first explaining the coming
of the Holy Spirit says, “I will not leave you fatherless. I will come to you.”
Apparently,
since the fall, God has considered humanity to be “Fatherless”.
Obviously
most foreigners, widows, and orphans (the handicapped, as well) are the most
vulnerable in our society. It is understandable that our compassionate God
would go out of His way to make sure that we care for them.
And, maybe it wasn't until Jesus began to
reveal the Fatherhood (heart?) of God that humanity could begin to realize that
when we take care of these most vulnerable that we are, indeed, taking care of
ourselves. I say this, because, until we receive the Holy Spirit – the Spirit
of adoption – we are every bit as Fatherless, widowed (without provision or
protection), Levite (without inheritance), handicapped, and foreigners (aliens
without the benefits of citizenship, living away from our Father’s land).
“But as many
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those
who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13
Are you
enjoying a Father-child relationship with God?
The type of Father who wants us loved, provided for, protected, socially integrated in a fulfilling way, and whole spirit, soul, and body.
The Holy
Spirit resides within us to lead us into this reality.
As I
meditate on the wonders of God being my Father, I hear my heart say,
“Daddy, more, please!?”
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