The Good Of The Father (In Him)

 In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you 

Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament 

Christian theology is a funny thing.  They'll speak to one part of their narrative while simply ignoring other parts of the scriptures.  My latest reminder of this was in a discussion with my friends over the religious film The Forge.  Now, I admit that I have yet to lay eyes upon this movie, but I plan to soon.  From what I could tell from the discussion amongst my comrades, it's yet another in a long line of Christian feel good movies.  But one part of our discussion struck home with me, and that was the part of the movie where the main character suddenly came face to face with the father he had barely known years after he had left his family.  Obviously, he was angry with this man who had abandoned him so many years ago.  The reason that this scene struck home with me is because I was one of those guys.  I was one of those kids whose dad suddenly decided that life without a family was better that the life which he had created with his family.  I was one of those kids who grew up never knowing if my own earthly father cared in the least for me.  Was I angry?  Absolutely.  But my own fathers absence in my life caused me to make a very important decision in my own life.  From a young age I vowed that I would NEVER  be the man that my own father had been.  Now, this might just be expressing anger in a different way, but it was also an anger which drove me to be better in my own life.  I consider myself to be very fortunate as my mother was a very religious person and she never let an opportunity pass by to show her son the kindness and the forgiveness of the Father.  This proved invaluable growing up without a father in my life.  But I don't consider myself a survivor at all.  No, I consider myself to have been chosen by the Lord for something better than the life that my own father offered.  It's not uncommon for children to follow in the footsteps of their parents in life, but for me that was never an option.  I had seen the grass on the other side of that fence, and it wasn't greener by any means.  So it is that when others start talking about the epidemic of children growing up without fathers in their lives that it becomes a personal issue for me.  

Yet we are aware that the Son of God is arriving, and has given us a comprehension, that we know the True One, in His Son, Jesus Christ.  This One is the true God and life eonian

First Epistle of John 5: 20, Concordant New Testament 

I remember one of the first times that I heard a friend in church refer to God as "Daddy."  This was a tough pill for me to swallow.  For to refer to God as daddy somehow in my mind associated God with my own dad and all of the things he had done.  It associated God with someone who had given up on me.  But I would learn that referring to God as Daddy is simply a way of showing our own affection for Him.  I may have had an earthly father in my life who failed, but I have a Father in heaven who will never leave me.  I have spoken this truth to more than a few people who have grown up without a father with mixed results.  Some accept it and see the truth that is in the Father while others continue to dwell on the issues of the past.  I chose not to do that.  The life which I chose is one in the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  I recently received some pushback from a few Christian friends over the habit of referring to God as Daddy.  Now, contrary to my earlier aversion to this, I have come to see that referring to God in such a way is simply a term of affection.  But, as I once did, not all believers see it this way.  I have no experience with a loving father to compare to the love which God has for me.  In my mind, I have never needed it.  For I know in my heart the love which the Father has for me {First Epistle of John 3:1}.  My life is the life I have in Him. 

~Scott~