What's striking to me is that the Lord's Prayer is the first time (that I can find) where God instructs us to refer to him as our father and not our God. If this prayer was to be found in the Old Testament, one would expect it to start, "God of our fathers" or "God of Israel" or "Almighty" or "Most powerful holy creator." But through Jesus, God cuts through our perceived notions and reveals two things: that Jesus is "the EXACT representation of his being" and He wants us to relate to him as "our Father."
Certainly the nature of God inherently implies that he is omnipotent and holy. He even attributes that to Himself throughout the Old Testament and even the Lord's Prayer. But He wants to define a relationship with us first and foremost as an unconditional loving father, with an appreciation of his attributes second.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
does that mean we should ALWAYS call him our 'Father'? not God or Lord?
Pastor James and Dulla taught me something on the difference between the balance of calling God our father and our Lord.
P.James or Dulla, can you repeat that again???
Oh yeah, Jee Tae- are you mad at me??? I love you!!!!!
To answer your question, Jeetae and Dave... let me begin here. What is prayer? Prayer is talking to God about what we desire. Now when Jesus tells his disciples to address God as Father, what he's doing is telling us something very important about the way we should see God as we approach him in our prayers. God is not indifferent to us and our needs; he is like our earthly father in that he delights to help us and is very concerned about what is going on in our lives. And so when Jesus tells his disciples to address God as Father, he is reminding them of the special relationship they have with God, as Father... not someone who is aloof and unconcerned about us, but one who has a special relationship to them as "Father". This approach should give Christians tremendous encouragement that our prayers will be heard. We should pray with the confidence of a child who is related to a loving and concerned father.
Of course that does not mean that we should not call him God or Lord. Both these terms convey different relationships. But the most unique among our relationship to God is that of "Father". "Father" is the new name for God. In fact the apostle Paul writes that the HOly Spirit causes the true believer to cry "Abba Father". It is the language of the Holy Spirit working in us as new/born again children of God (see Romans 8:15 and Gal 4:6). I hope this helps.
Posted by Pastor James
No but I am going to punch you when I see you. j/p
Post a Comment