Earthly Father Vs. Heavenly Father

Happy Father’s Day. 

As we prepare for communion, I want to very briefly focus on two things. 

#1. The difference between earthly fathers and our heavenly father

#2 How our Father in heaven yearns for the most meaningful relationship with us.

First- The difference between earthly fathers and our heavenly father. In short, Dad fails. Have you ever experienced a Dad fail? 

For instance, like when you let your two-year-old daughter fall on a pile of bricks leading to stitches in the lip, or when your wife prepares an awesome breakfast for you and your three kids while she is away with simple instructions to take the lid off of the pyrex container and put it in the oven, but you don’t read the instructions and assume since it is pyrex you can just put the whole thing in the oven without taking the lid off. We all know earthly fathers fail. 

Remember this, when Jesus teaches us to pray, He states to start with our Father, who art in heaven. That is a reminder that we are not praying to our imperfect earthly fathers, we are praying to the perfect and most powerful father. The creator.

That leads us to the second point preparing for communion. This second point is most impactful to me right now. Since school has been out, Rachel and I have been taking nighttime walks. We talk about life and joke about silly things. Then we have a tradition of commenting on how huge the neighbor's oak tree is before we return to the house.

Here is the point, when Jesus teaches us to pray, he starts with Our Father. When he did that, Jesus called God, Abba. Literally, that term is the most intimate term to imply he is our Daddy. He wants to know us. He wants to go for walks with us. He wants to hear things that make us happy and sad. He wants to be there for us. He wants our hearts, not perfection.

Let’s pray: Our Father- that means you are patient and kind. You are not self-seeking, you keep no record of wrongs, you always protect, always trust, and always persevere. You are good and you are gentle with us. You discipline you guide, you are our strength and shield. We take a moment to confess our sins and celebrate you as our Father. We remember your love for us through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.

In Jesus' name, Amen