Hello

In Genesis 3 we read of a time when the creator, our loving Father, had a beautiful, intimate, loving relationship with a man and a woman and something went wrong.  The man and woman broke the relationship and tried to hide from him.  They tried to separate themselves from our loving Father.

But the relationship didn’t end.  The story goes that our loving Father turned the man and woman out of the garden, but he didn’t stop loving them.  Just before he turned them out of the garden there was a lovely domestic scene.  “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).  It’s a beautiful image.

Here’s the important thing.  Our loving Father didn’t banish the man and the woman from his presence.  He went with them.  He has never, ever distanced himself from his human children.  Yet the story of humanity is a story of us, his children, turning away from him and trying to live our lives without him.  This has always caused him pain.  He has always loved his human children and has always wanted us to love him.  That is what he made us for.  But we, his children, have kept distancing ourselves from him.  Two passages from the prophets tell us how our loving Father feels about this.

“How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.  I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.  But…”  (Jeremiah 3:19)

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.  But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me…  …It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.  I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.”  (Hosea 11:1-4)

I particularly love the imagery of our loving Father wanting to lift us to his cheek.  Those of us who are parents or grandparents get this.  The idea of being lifted up and carried is also found in one of my favorite Old Testament passages:

“He tends his flock like a shepherd.  He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.  He gently leads those that have young.”  (Isaiah 40:11)

Our loving Father wants to pick us up and hold us against his cheek.  He wants to carry us in his arms, close to his heart. We can trust him completely and he wants us to trust him completely.  He wants us to learn to trust him the same way a small child learns to trust a loving parent.  Yet, we keep distancing ourselves from him.

 

What did Jesus say?

Jesus arrived in a religious culture where people had been distancing themselves from God for thousands of years.  They had distanced themselves by convincing themselves that God was too holy to be approached by human beings.  They had distanced themselves by making the priesthood stand between them and God.  They had distanced themselves by saying that God was so holy that even his name should not be spoken or written.  Jesus showed them the way back to the intimate relationship with our loving Father that he always wanted.  He called God “Father” when praying to him and called him his father when talking about him to others.

“If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.  My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.  Though you do not know him, I know him.  If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. (John 8:54-55)

Jesus made it clear that our loving Father has always wanted us to return to the intimate, loving, trusting, oneness with him that he made us for.  I think there is no clearer teaching on this than Jesus’ story about the lost son (Luke 15:11-32).  The son’s actions were selfish, which means they were sinful.  By these actions, the son separated himself from his father.  But when he came to his senses and went home, his father ran to meet him and hugged him.  His father had been yearning for reconciliation with his child, and now his child had come back to him.

Reconciliation is not a one-off thing.  The son was restored to the love relationship with his father, but we all know that the commitment to loving someone must be renewed constantly and consistently.  This is what God wants – ongoing love from each of his children.  The Father has always yearned for this kind of love.

How should we respond to a parent who loves us this much and yearns for us to return his love?

Jesus gives us the answer:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  (Mark 12:30)

 

May we all know that our loving Father is close to us, and may he keep us close to him.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

 

Related articles

“What did Jesus say about loving God?”

“Taking My Feet Off the Ground – Learning to Trust God”

“What did Jesus say about sin?”

“What did Jesus say about being a Christian?  “Follow Me.”

“What did Jesus say I must believe?”

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