Not ForsakenSample

Day 2:

What do you think about when you think about God?

Theologian A. W. Tozer famously said that our answer to this question is the most important thing about us. So, what do you think about when you think about God?

Some of us think God is there, but not really involved in our lives. He made the earth and wound it up, then sat back to watch it run on its own.

Others think God is basically a nice guy who wants us all to be good and to have good lives, but is a little hard of hearing, out of touch and basically too weak to do anything substantial.

And other people think God is a ruthless dictator, a cosmic killjoy who exists only to tell us what we can’t do.

These, and many other pictures of God, are common, but wrong. You see, God is not your cosmic butler in the sky, your hard-of-hearing grandfather, or a far-removed nebulous force. He is our Father. Throughout Scripture, God relates to us primarily as Father. Jesus himself, in the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—refers to God as Father 189 times. Clearly, it’s vital we see and related to God in this way.

But that raises a second question. What do you think about when you think about Father?

Our experiences, good or bad, with our earthly fathers largely determine how we answer this question. Because of this, “Father” may not seem any better title to you than “cosmic killjoy,” “hard-of-hearing grandfather,” or “nebulous force.” But, no matter our experiences with our earthly dads, we’ve all experienced the longing for a perfect father.

Think about this longing. What did you always wish your dad was like?

Here’s the amazing and most freeing news for you and me today: God is the perfect Father. He’s not just a bigger version of your earthly dad, he’s the perfect Father. He’s the answer to every longing for a father’s acceptance, approval, support and love that you’ve ever experienced.

This means that each of us – not matter how amazing, absent, abusive, or aloof our earthly fathers were or are – have the opportunity to live as loved daughters and sons of a perfect Father. Seeing God this way has the power to transform our relationship with Him, and with our earthly fathers.