The father is the main role-model for the son, but isn’t always appreciated. Are you one who remembers your father as a strict disciplinarian, a clip round the ear or at least a good telling off the most likely response to anything you did? Did you ever get it right? You should have been born a girl, they usually saw the more loving side – but not always!
Personally, my father died before I was 4 years old so I never knew him. Maybe your father was absent for some reason, or abusive – verbally or otherwise, or just impossible to please. Maybe he was too busy with his own life to take any notice of you, or it seemed best just to avoid each other as much as possible. In the book, Diamond Geezers, some were asked their reaction to the word ‘father’. “Strength, warmth, smile, fun, gentleman” – but that was just the women. The men said, “Liar, cheat, fear, absent, just wanted him to say he was proud of me..” There were some positive answers too, but not many. So if we invite men to get to know God the father it’s not surprising if we get a wary or bad reaction. No doubt that’s a big part of why there are many more women than men in church regularly these days.
So what did God think about you when you woke up this morning? Perhaps he didn’t notice you at all. After all he’s got many billions of planets and stars to look after, not to mention the billions of people on this planet alone! Why should you matter to him? You’re just another brick in the wall as it were. No wonder people reject a God like that. I do too, because He isn’t like that at all. He watches over each of us night and day, waking and sleeping. The real God couldn’t wait for each of us to wake up so He could enjoy the good things we do and try to help us avoid the bad things. On top of which He calls us his children and loves us without setting any conditions. What a father! Blows me away!
Jim Finch
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