It is surprising when we meet people who do not know our Heavenly Father, but it is also exciting because it’s an opportunity to share our faith with them. There are plenty of people that say they believe in God and believe that He exists, but they do not know Him as their Father. God wants to have a relationship with every person. 1Timothy 2:3-4 (NLT) says, “3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” The Father’s heart is that everyone will receive the salvation that Jesus Christ offers, and He also wants them to understand the truth. As we all know, a relationship is a two-way street. God extends us an invitation to get to know what a loving and powerful Father He is. As we trust Him and desire to know the truth of His Word, we can begin to build our relationship with Him.
As a matter of habit, most folks think a lot of themselves and really never think about the depth of God’s goodness. He set things up for us so wonderfully, yet many have the opinion that humanity evolved to where it is today because people are so smart and technologically savvy. The reality is that Jesus Christ came to the earth and unveiled the truth to us, and this is what has opened the door and accelerated our advancement as human beings. We take many of God’s blessings for granted, and one of those is the blessing of families. He has given us biological parents to help nurture us as children until we are able to be independent and stand on our own. Those of us who are blessed to have loving parents know that there’s nothing like being able to depend on people who will have your back, no matter what.
We grew into the people we are today in large part because of the families we were born in. If you were to go to the neighborhood where your parents were raised, the people who knew them might say that you resemble your parents. Your aunts, cousins, or other relatives might even think that you have some of the same qualities and characteristics as your mom or dad. If you care at all about what your parents (mother, father, or both) have sacrificed to get you where you are today, you will want to represent them well. You’ll care about upholding the integrity of their namesake because you love them, and appreciate what they’ve done for you.
These same attributes apply when it comes to our relationship with Heavenly Father. God set up parental relationships so that we would learn how to respond to Him with love, honor, and respect. If you’ve been blessed to know the love and care of a good mother, you know that there’s nothing like a mother’s love. She will give every drop of her life for one of her children. Because of this intense love, we can have some idea of how deeply God loved His Son. Romans 5:8 (NLT) tells us, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Just let this marinate in your heart and mind for a moment. God loved Jesus Christ very much, and yet, He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins, so that we could have a relationship with Him. This should prove to us the measure of our Heavenly Father’s love for us all.
The reality of what Heavenly Father did for us is almost too much to comprehend. It is the greatest act of love that we could ever imagine. It is a gift so huge that it will take us an eternity to enjoy it. So, it is very logical to deduce that we cannot show our Heavenly Father, who has given us so much, less respect, honor, and reverence that we show our earthly biological parents. They love us a lot, and they’ve given us a lot, but there can be no comparison between what they’ve poured into us and what we’ve received from Heavenly Father. Through Jesus Christ, He’s given us eternal life!
Romans 12:1 (NLT) tells us, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” A half-hearted presentation to God would not demonstrate that we are grateful for all He has done for us through Jesus Christ. God deserves all of us, and as His children, we should be honored that the Creator of the Universe wants this kind of relationship with us. He desires it, and through Christ, He has equipped us with everything we need to be members of His royal family.
One of life’s greatest questions is “Who am I?” Because of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can answer this question, “I am a child of God!” As His children, we must know our makeup. We are spiritual beings with a soul, housed in a body. In Genesis 1:24, God gives us a pattern of His divine design, and it is that everything produces after its own kind. A mule cannot produce a bird, and a bird cannot produce a monkey. Birds produce birds, and humans produce humans. Jesus Christ took this to a whole other level when he told us in John 3:6 (KJV), “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” God is overwhelmingly consistent. His law dictates that a human being is produced from the seed of his or her father. When we become born-again by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive our Heavenly Father’s seed, which is the Holy Spirit!
Hebrews 9:15 (NLT) tells us, “That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.” We are his brothers and sisters with Christ. We share his inheritance because we have the same wonderful and magnificent Heavenly Father! In John 14:6 (NLT), Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” God prepared the plan of salvation, and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to loose the bondage of death and darkness, and to be a payment for the sins of the world. This sacrifice was the greatest expression of God’s love, and to accept this love and have God’s seed dwelling on the inside of us, we must accept His Son, Jesus Christ. This is how we become a part of God’s family. Through Christ we receive His seed, and we are born of God’s Spirit!■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Knowing God, Our Father” written by JMack. 4theChristianMan.Com© 2017. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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