I wonder what he would have looked like.
I wonder what his personality would have been like.
I wonder what it would be like to have 2 sons.
I wonder what would be different about our lives had he lived.
I wonder...
February 23, 2008...Andrew's birthday.
Today we celebrate a little boy we never had the privilege of truly knowing...a little boy we never rocked to sleep....a little boy we never celebrated milestones with...a little boy that has gotten a head start on heaven (and sometimes i'm quite envious of that) - today we remember and celebrate him and trust that his life was perfectly planned and ordained by our God who loves us so very much.
Thank you, God, for the gift of Andrew...for the gift of grief...for the gift of the process of losing the very thing we were hoping most for...for the gift of being able to trust you more...for the gift of heaven...for the gift of the Body of Christ that was so faithful to love and support and walk through this with us (I can still feel Your arms around us through them)....for the gift of knowing your presence and your peace in more ways than ever before...for the gift of life - no matter how short.
This is an adaptation of a talk I shared with our Africa Mercy community a few weeks ago - it was a part of our series called "Who do you say that I am?" ...I'm praying that this post will be a blessing...you might want to fix a cup of coffee or tea and find a comfy spot...it reads pretty much how I talk (and the talk lasted about 20 minutes) - my apologies for imperfect typing (and imperfect talking!).
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God, please fill in the gaps of this blog post…may each person reading this hear whatever it is that YOU are saying to them – whether that comes from these word you’ve given me to share or not.May we hear from You…may we connect with You as our Good Abba Father...
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When I say the word “Father” what comes to mind?
It’s fun to google things (and I love that “google” has become a verb)
I happen to know of someone on the ship who googled “how to pray for annoying people” this week (and found a really great resource to use!)…that internet thing is a wealth of knowledge…
If one might happen to Google "father" -all these incredible pictures come up…peaceful, happy, full of relationship kind of pictures….
I love that those are the kinds of images that Google comes up with – but what do YOU come up with?
What do you think when we talk about God as our Father?
How do you feel about God as your Father?
Google may paint pretty pictures of the word “father”
But the reality is that not everyone has that view of fathers….
Some of us have amazing earthly fathers – loving, kind, sacrificial – the kind of father that makes it easy to relate to God as Father.
Some of us have mediocre fathers – they were ok…not too bad, not too good.You can kind of see God as Father…but that’s not really all that much.
Some of us have AWFUL fathers – and it’s ok to say that – maybe even abusive or hurtful or mean…
Some of us may not even know our earthly fathers – or maybe you feel abandoned by your earthly father….or maybe your father is no longer here on the earth.
Or maybe your experience with your father is somewhere in between amazing and horrible….somewhere between wonderfully loving and terribly absent.
I want to challenge us – whatever thoughts/impressions/experiences/feelings you have about your earthly father…can we push those aside to be able to experience the Truth of our heavenly Father - our Good Abba Father - and the Truth of our place as His children. Maybe you've never been able to really relate to God as Father....but maybe that's all about to change. Or maybe related to God as Father has never been a problem and this post can be a sweet reminder of who you are as His child...
The Truth is that Your Father God loves you and He is proud of you. And the Truth is that your Abba Father God wants you to be able to relate to Him as Father...
When asked “Who do you say that I am?” He wants us to be able to say “you’re my Father – my Abba.”
There are so many names for God – yet He chooses God, THE FATHER – as one of THE main expressions of who He is. It's how He’s chosen to define his relationship with people.Yes, He is creator…and Yes, He is our Lord…and Yes, He is King…but that’s not how he primarily relates to us.Our relationship is not defined by his Kingship and us as he subjects…it's not defined by Him as the boss and us as the employees…the way he chooses to relate to us is as Dad…and we are his children.
We need a Father’s love – we need to know that we belong, that we are loved, that we are wanted…
We need to know God as our Father.
But what do you see when I say that?
A father pointing his finger and shaking his fist?
A father disengaged and separated?
A disappointed father?
There are these incredible verses in Romans 8 – if you haven’t read that chapter lately, read it!!Go read it! Even right now if you want to!--there are verses that talk about our place as God’s children – our place as His – our privilege to be able to call Him Father.And in those verses we get a sense of how He views us as His children:
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.”16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...
There’s so much good stuff in those verses…so much richness.I want us to focus in for a minute on the fact that we are not slaves...but SONS and DAUGHTERS.
Let's read verse 15 once more: "...for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as by who we cry, Abba! Father!"
Take a minute to contrast the words slavery and adoption.
Slavery: living in fear, obligation, no rights, no freedom, unbearable...
Adoption: a tangible redeeming love that says you are loved, you are chosen, you are wanted...
We are not slaves – but are children adopted into the perfect father’s home – loved, chosen wanted.
John 3:1 "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"
Hear and receive these words from Ephesians 1 (another amazing chapter to read!):
"Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son."
We are not slaves of God.We are CHILDREN of God.Adopted by Him – we are loved, we are chosen, we are wanted.He took pleasure in planning to make us his children!
And because we are his sons and daughters – the Spirit of God is alive and well in us…and the Spirit helps us to be able to call God, Abba, Father (what a relief – it’s not all up to us!Even if it’s hard for me to relate to God as Father…the Spirit can help me!!!)
The word says it again in Galatians 4:6 - “And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of His song into our hearts prompting us to call out, “Abba Father.”
His Spirit in us calls out Abba, Father. Abba can either be understood as "the father" or the more personal, "my father." – a term of endearment used by a beloved child.It was a common term that young children would use to address their fathers. It signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father to his child, as well as the childlike trust that a young child puts in his “daddy.” – papa, dada, dad.
Some argue that the word Abba does not translate to “daddy” and that addressing God as papa or daddy is presumptuous…or irreverent…but I would argue that it is one of THE most intimate names we can call God.Just think of a child in right relationship with their daddy…it’s beautiful.
It is life-changing to understand the full force of what it means to be able to call the one true God our Father – our father who is close and knows us and interacts with us just as a daddy does.
Not only is God our Abba, Father – our Father who knows us, loves us, cares for us, pays attention to us, engages with us, enjoys us….
He is also GOOD.He is our Good Abba Father.
It’s important for us to have an accurate picture of our Abba Father – not as one who is waiting for us to fail…he’s not standing there shaking his head and pointing his finger…He is FOR us – not against us.Any good father is FOR his children…
1 Chronicles 16 - the chapter is a whole worship service in and of itself! - verse 34 says:“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;his love endures forever.”
…and not only good – but our Abba Father God is great and excellent and most worthy of praise!
Deuteronomy 3:24 “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?
And not only is He great but EXCELLENT…and on and on and on.So many attributes of God, so many qualities and characteristics…
I want you to know – and I believe God wants you to know- that you are His beloved child – his son, his daughter.No matter how your earthly father views you, you are loved, treasured and desired by our Abba Father – and He is proud of you. He is our good Abba Father.
One of my favorite verses is Zephaniah 3:17 – it doesn’t mention the word Father…but, for me, it paints a beautiful picture of what a Father does for his children….
“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save you.He takes great delight in you.He quiets you with His love.He rejoices over you with singing.”
Can you picture it?If you’re willing, close your eyes and picture God – Your Good Abba Father – delighting over you….like a new dad who is peering at his child for the first time – great delight in His eyes…that’s how God delights in you.Excited about you.So glad that He made you.
And now picture Him quieting you with His love – whatever situation gets you upset or frustrated or insecure or doubting…whatever troubles you – he is there, ready and willing to QUIET you….to calm you back down, to soothe your soul, to give you His peace… (he does it better than anyone else!)
And then he rejoices over you with singing…what does that sound like to you?Maybe it’s fun victory music that makes you want to dance…or maybe it’s sweet sounds that speak right to your heart and mind...Your Good Abba father is happy to be singing your song to you….
May we tune in to his singing…to his soothing…to his delight.
There are 2 places in Scripture where God says something really cool to his son – something that any son would want said to them and about them (I didn’t realize it was said twice!)
At Jesus’ baptism and at then again at the transfiguration (when He went up on the mountain and Peter, James and John saw him in his glorified body with Elijah and Moses)
Matthew 3:17
And a voice from heaven said, “ThisismySon, whomI love; with him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 17:5
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “ThisismySon, whomIlove; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
I believe God is saying similar things to us -- Your good, Abba Father loves you and he is proud of you – we need to know that.We need to live out of that Truth.Our Father is pleased with us.Your earthly father may not be pleased with you – but your Good, Abba Father IS pleased with you.
There may be other things that God – our Good Abba Father wants to say to us. Or maybe there’s something you need to hear from Him – something you wish you could hear from your Father.
If you’re willing, grab a piece of paper and let God write you a letter…ask Him what He as our Good Abba Father wants you to know...so you can start your letter with your own name "Dear ______" …and then just write what comes in to your head and heart – words that might be right from your Good, Abba Father….
What do you need to hear from God – Your Good Abba Father – to be more of who He created you to be?To believe in who He says you are….What do you always wish your Father had said to you?
If you don’t want to write the letter, that’s ok! Below there's a link to a really great song - maybe take a few minutes to listen to it…or pray…or rest…whatever you do, take some time to let our Good, Abba Father wrap you up in His strong, capable, perfect Love.
