On Father’s Day this year I taught my Sunday School class a lesson I wrote called, “You Can Call Him Dad”. This is typically a difficult lesson to write because the situations of the kids in my class vary on how they view fathers based on their experiences with their own dads--or lack thereof. As I was thinking and praying about it I found myself pondering my own view of my Heavenly Father in light of my earthly father.
Romans 8:15 says, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” This verse is close to me because not only do I understand the concept of adoption by my Heavenly Father, I understood it by my earthly father as well.
Having been raised for the first part of my life by a physically and emotionally abusive man, I did not have a proper view of God when it came to looking at Him as my Father. In my teen years and as a young adult I struggled with this concept because I was sure that God was up in Heaven just waiting for me to mess up and that as soon as I did He would be gone from my life in the blink of an eye. Oh, how many times I believed God had walked out on me. Until, that is, I came to an understanding of how much God loves us.
I was taken in by my pastor when I was older and he became the man in my life whom I called my dad. He wasn’t like my biological father, though. No, this man actually had the love of Christ in his life and he spread it to people. Over time I began to see what Romans 8:15 really meant. God doesn’t have to love us or care for us, just as my pastor and his wife never had to love or care for me--and yet, somehow the love in His heart and in their hearts was strong enough that they did so anyway. Sure, there were times when I was scared because I messed up and thought they were going to abandon me, too, just as I had thought of God. But thinking about them this Father’s Day, I’ve seen how that is not true. Neither God nor my parents have left me, despite my not being perfect.
God doesn’t leave His children. Hebrews 13:5 states that God “will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” You cannot fall so far that God cannot reach down and pick you back up. Remember that God didn’t have to love us or adopt us as His children but He CHOSE to do so. He loved you so much that He CHOSE to call you His child. He loved you so much that He CHOSE to save you. This Father’s Day, realize that Jesus is the perfect Father and He is waiting there for you, arms wide open, in both your times of success and in your times of failing.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Playing Hide and Seek with God
There I sat hiding behind a pile of toys and underneath a blanket that was nearly suffocating me when I heard the perpetrator walk into the room. In that back corner of the closet I held my breath, heart pounding, knowing my ever-so-clever hiding spot was about to be discovered and I would become “it”. It was a harmless game played between my younger siblings and I, but I couldn’t help wondering if in some way these might have been surface-level feelings that were existent in the hearts of Adam and Eve as they made a feeble attempt to hide from God in the Garden, post-sin.
Imagine the sheer terror of knowing you had made a grave mistake and now you were running, knowing you would be caught at any second. You would slink behind one tree, believing at first it would hide you, then in a moment of panic realizing that you needed something bigger and better to hide behind. You continue running, searching for bushes or trees that would serve better but finding to no avail. Finally, you hear the voice of the one searching for you. But instead of, “I found you! You’re it!” and laughter, you hear the disappointment and anger-filled voice of God question you about the sin you’ve committed.
When a situation arises where one makes a mistake, one of two possible decisions must be made: confess and repent, or deny and attempt to escape the ensuing punishment. Adam chose the latter, much like the kid in the game of hide-and-seek would’ve countered, “You cheated! You peeked! You didn’t count long enough!” How many times in our sin have we attempted to justify our actions or just live day-to-day believing that we have successfully hidden them?
Sometimes in these games of hide-and-seek I will purposely walk past one of my siblings just to make them believe that they’ve chosen a sneaky hiding spot and to build up their excitement by not knowing if I’ll ever find them. They don’t know it, but all along I’ve known exactly where they are. It’s even easier with the youngest because once she finds the spot she likes, she hides there every time.
Proverbs 15:3 states, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” We can justify the sin all we want and attempt to hide it believing that we’ve escaped home-free, but the truth is that God saw it happen. He may not call it out immediately, but He knows where we are and what we’ve done. Furthermore, much like Little Sister hiding in the same spot over and over, we people tend to go back to the same things repeatedly. “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly (Proverbs 26:11).”
What if Adam had confessed, though? Instead of attempting to justify the sin what if Adam had repented? What if, instead of hiding, Adam had sought out the Lord after his mistake and asked for forgiveness? We will never know if the outcome would have been different and we have no reason to assume so, but in the Dispensation of Grace to which we now belong, we know what the answer would be for us if we were in Adam’s shoes.
One lesson I learned quickly after being adopted into a new home was that if you approached and confessed after making a mistake, you saved yourself from a lot of the hot water that you would’ve found yourself in if you had decided to inch around the truth or justify it. By making the move to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, much was gained. God tells us in II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The quickest way to reconciliation with Christ is not to attempt to run and hide from God but to seek Him.
What role do you play in the game of hide-and-seek with God? Are you constantly running, searching for a new hiding place? Or worse, running back to the same old place each time? Or have you made the decision to be “it” and to seek God instead?
I’ll never forget one particular round of hide-and-seek in which I couldn’t find a hiding spot and Little Sister (the same one who always hides in the same spot) walked right past me as I sat as still as possible on the bathroom counter right in front of her. How she didn’t see me I don’t know, but nonetheless I was there all along. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” You may not have a life-changing experience every time you pray to God but you can be sure that He is there and that He sees and hears you. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).” Would you rather be like Adam, who fearfully hid, or like the prodigal son in the book of Luke, who sought after his father and asked forgiveness?
Looking even beyond sin and repentance, how is your game of hide-and-seek? Have you kept seeking or have you given up? David admonished Solomon in I Chronicles 28:9, “know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”
Don’t give up. Just when you think you’ve sought after God as much as possible, keeping seeking. Psalm 10:4 states that the “wicked…will not seek after God.” On the contrary, Psalm 9:10 says that the Lord “hast not forsaken them that seek [Him].”I Chronicles 16:11 and Isaiah 55:6 say, “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually… Seek ye the LORD while he may be found.” Seek ye the Lord. Seek Ye The Lord. SEEK YE THE LORD.
Are you “It” in your game of hide-and-seek?
Imagine the sheer terror of knowing you had made a grave mistake and now you were running, knowing you would be caught at any second. You would slink behind one tree, believing at first it would hide you, then in a moment of panic realizing that you needed something bigger and better to hide behind. You continue running, searching for bushes or trees that would serve better but finding to no avail. Finally, you hear the voice of the one searching for you. But instead of, “I found you! You’re it!” and laughter, you hear the disappointment and anger-filled voice of God question you about the sin you’ve committed.
When a situation arises where one makes a mistake, one of two possible decisions must be made: confess and repent, or deny and attempt to escape the ensuing punishment. Adam chose the latter, much like the kid in the game of hide-and-seek would’ve countered, “You cheated! You peeked! You didn’t count long enough!” How many times in our sin have we attempted to justify our actions or just live day-to-day believing that we have successfully hidden them?
Sometimes in these games of hide-and-seek I will purposely walk past one of my siblings just to make them believe that they’ve chosen a sneaky hiding spot and to build up their excitement by not knowing if I’ll ever find them. They don’t know it, but all along I’ve known exactly where they are. It’s even easier with the youngest because once she finds the spot she likes, she hides there every time.
Proverbs 15:3 states, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” We can justify the sin all we want and attempt to hide it believing that we’ve escaped home-free, but the truth is that God saw it happen. He may not call it out immediately, but He knows where we are and what we’ve done. Furthermore, much like Little Sister hiding in the same spot over and over, we people tend to go back to the same things repeatedly. “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly (Proverbs 26:11).”
What if Adam had confessed, though? Instead of attempting to justify the sin what if Adam had repented? What if, instead of hiding, Adam had sought out the Lord after his mistake and asked for forgiveness? We will never know if the outcome would have been different and we have no reason to assume so, but in the Dispensation of Grace to which we now belong, we know what the answer would be for us if we were in Adam’s shoes.
One lesson I learned quickly after being adopted into a new home was that if you approached and confessed after making a mistake, you saved yourself from a lot of the hot water that you would’ve found yourself in if you had decided to inch around the truth or justify it. By making the move to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, much was gained. God tells us in II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The quickest way to reconciliation with Christ is not to attempt to run and hide from God but to seek Him.
What role do you play in the game of hide-and-seek with God? Are you constantly running, searching for a new hiding place? Or worse, running back to the same old place each time? Or have you made the decision to be “it” and to seek God instead?
I’ll never forget one particular round of hide-and-seek in which I couldn’t find a hiding spot and Little Sister (the same one who always hides in the same spot) walked right past me as I sat as still as possible on the bathroom counter right in front of her. How she didn’t see me I don’t know, but nonetheless I was there all along. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” You may not have a life-changing experience every time you pray to God but you can be sure that He is there and that He sees and hears you. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).” Would you rather be like Adam, who fearfully hid, or like the prodigal son in the book of Luke, who sought after his father and asked forgiveness?
Looking even beyond sin and repentance, how is your game of hide-and-seek? Have you kept seeking or have you given up? David admonished Solomon in I Chronicles 28:9, “know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”
Don’t give up. Just when you think you’ve sought after God as much as possible, keeping seeking. Psalm 10:4 states that the “wicked…will not seek after God.” On the contrary, Psalm 9:10 says that the Lord “hast not forsaken them that seek [Him].”I Chronicles 16:11 and Isaiah 55:6 say, “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually… Seek ye the LORD while he may be found.” Seek ye the Lord. Seek Ye The Lord. SEEK YE THE LORD.
Are you “It” in your game of hide-and-seek?
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