Who’s Your Father?

Feb 15, 2019 2347

Who’s your father?

Not all of us had fathers we want to talk about. Some of us had wonderful fathers, despite their imperfections. Others had fathers whom we loved because they simply did their best with the hand that life had dealt them. Still others had fathers who were moral monsters, unworthy of the name, “father.”

It was the same way in Jesus’ time. So, why did he insist on calling God our “father” when he knew that none of us have a perfect image of what that means, and that it would be a turn that might turn some away? I think it was because he knew that whether we realise it or not, we all ache for a father in some way or another, and our Father in Heaven is our truest and best father.

I never thought I looked like my father. I think I looked a lot like my mother. But every now and then, someone would say, “You look just like your father!” What about you and your father? Do you look like him? In what ways are you like him?

We don’t get to choose our biological fathers. And that’s sometime really unfortunate. Some fathers are wonderful, but none are perfect. And some are downright evil.

But you know, there’s an even more important father than your biological father that you actually get to choose. The Bible talks about two fathers, the Father of Truth, and the father of lies.

The names sound similar, but don’t be deceived. These two fathers are very, very different.

You choose your father when you choose whom you will follow.

Of the first one, the Bible says,

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (James 1:17, NASB).

That’s the good father. But of the second one, Jesus said,

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44, NIV).

You choose your father when you choose whom you will follow, and whom we want to be like.

When you choose to speak light and truth and generosity into the lives of others, then you are choosing to be like the Father of Lights. But when you choose to speak darkness and selfishness and condemnation into the lives of others, you are following the father of lies.

Jesus said, “You belong to your father,” and he was right. Wes belong to the one we resemble. In this aspect of life, choice is stronger than genetics.

Are you speaking grace, mercy and forgiveness into the lives of those around you? Or is your path marked by the darkness of resentment, bitterness, and narrow thoughts. Does your heart expand outward toward others, or contract and harden itself against others?

These are tough questions, but the toughest of them all is, “Who’s your father?”

– Eliezer Gonzalez

You choose your father when you choose whom you will follow.

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