ORIGINATION OF FAMILY

I once heard a story that went like this: A little girl was being put to bed by her mother, who took her upstairs and tucked her in for the night. Soon after she left her, the child began to whimper, and she called to her, "You go to sleep. God is up there with you." But the little girl wanted someone to stay with her. Once again her mother told her, "God is up there with you." To this the little girl replied, "I know, but I want somebody with a face!" Father supplied us with that "somebody with a face" in the person of Jesus, who walked this earth and died for our sins.

Whenever I speak of God or to God lately I've been saying "Father" more than "God." In "This Day with the Master" by Dennis Kinlaw (a great daily devotional book, by the way!), Dr. Kinlaw discusses "The Fatherhood of God." Dr. Kinlaw writes that we often draw a picture of Kingship for God, as mentioned in the Bible so many times. "The kingdom of heaven is near," the return of the King in Revelations, and many other references place God as Lord over his creation. That much is very clear.

But before there was a King, before there was a creation to be Lord over, before there was time and space... before EVERYTHING - the second person of the triune Godhead called the first person of the Trinity not Lord, but FATHER! His Fatherhood speaks of a relationship within the very nature of God that was there before He spoke anything into existence!

Dr. Kinlaw goes on to say that the parent-child relationship - the family - is an eternal concept, not merely a temporal or historical one. The early church leaders recognized this. What statement comes first in The Apostles' Creed? "I believe in God the Father." Before the assertion of God's sovereignty or the recognition of Him as the Creator, the Source of all things, comes the affirmation of His Fatherhood. The beginning of all things comes from a father.

Finally, Dr. Kinlaw concludes with this statement: "Elevating the picture of God as Father so it is the primary image we have of God does not diminish His other roles, but enables us to understand them better. If the Judge is our Father, the judicial process is going to be very different from a process in which he is just an impartial third party."

Once again we see how intimate Father wants to be with us. He created us as His children, His family. The old chorus goes like this:

I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God
I've been washed in the fountain
And cleansed by His blood
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod
For I'm a part of the family
The family of God

What I'm learning is that this has always been Father's vision for us! Very cool!