God is Father

As Father, God is the designer and origin of everything. God is Father first. When a man is a father, he reflects something of God. The word “Father” tells of a close relationship. If God is our Father then we are children. Jesus tells a story of a son who denied his father (Luke 15:11-32). The son in this story was ready to abandon his father in order to gain an inheritance. The son becomes estranged.
The father says that his son is dead. In the same way we have left from God and have broken the relationship to Him. The Bible tells that the whole humanity has left God and is spiritually dead. God wants to be our Father if we agree to be children. The son in the story correctly says that he has no right to go back. He had sinned, and didn’t deserve the position of a son. He decides to try to earn his way back to Father’s house. He is ready to become a slave. This describes well religions. A religious person tries to appease God and be pleasing to God with different troublesome ways. You can find this in different religions. Even Christians can bend their religion into a list of duties and efforts. God does not want our religion. Jesus has prepared a way to the Father. He is the Son of God, and through Him we can again become children of God (John 1:12). Our relationship with God is based on grace. Grace is God’s love towards us. Our relationship is not based on what we have earned or what we deserve.

Man is created to have a family relationship with God. Sin broke this relationship. Through faith in Jesus we gain back this relationship. Faith is based on the promises God has given in the Bible. The Holy Spirit gives us faith and directs us to be part of the church. The church is like a mother, to whose lap we can be born and grow in. God is a Father who in His goodness draws us to Him.

What kind of a person was your father? In many countries the father is respected so much that he cannot be spoken to without permission. We have to respect God the Father, but we have also permission to speak to him trustingly like a small child in the lap of the father or mother. Everyone longs for a safe relationship with his or her parents.