First I want to say, “Happy Father’s Day,” to you fathers out there, and I hope you had an enjoyable day. I did. My kids couldn’t make it home, but gifts and cards arrived, and we are scheduled to celebrate the day together in a couple weeks. 🙂
At our local church yesterday, the Bible class teacher, Gary, spoke about our earthly fathers. He honored his own father but was very transparent about some of his failings as a father. He made the point, and I think we all agree, we’re grateful for whatever love, stability, provision, and protection our fathers provided for us. Yet we all know our dads made some mistakes, or there were things they certainly could have done better. They were, and we all are, fallible.
We also acknowledge that their successes and failures as fathers leave a big mark on us. That’s just the way it is. It seems to affect our world view and our view of God to a large degree, and it’s etched so deeply and indelibly in our souls and spirits that it’s hard to change, or even realize that it may not be correct and might need to be changed.
Then Gary spent the rest of his time talking about the “Infallible Father.” God our Father, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, even Jesus of Nazareth who became flesh and walked among us to tell us about His Father, and to show us the Father. Faithful, loving, kind, humble, honest, present, protector, defender, always the same… are some of the attributes pointed out about our Heavenly Father.
Then in the preaching service that followed, we were asked, “How did you get your name?” The common answers were [1] Your father, [2] your husband, [3] yourself (as in a good reputation or name which can be chosen or worked at — Proverbs 22:1.
Stan, the teacher, then connected that last thought with the thought of adoption, the other way we can get our name, or more accurately and importantly, His Name. He then spent a good deal of time talking about the Name of the Lord, the Name above all Names, and the benefits of being called by that Name, our Father’s Name. You might like to give his message a hearing by clicking here, or give it some thought and meditation on your own.
As the ramifications sink in, so does the largeness of the proposition . Happy Father’s Day!! 🙂
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Before I leave you, I’ll add some tidbits that stood out to me from this Father’s Day message…
“… the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17, NASB95)
“and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”” (John 17:26, NASB95)
“I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.” (Psalm 138:2, NASB95)
“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” (Proverbs 22:1, NKJV)
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14, NKJV)
“and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:17, NKJV)
“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,” (Philippians 2:8–9, NKJV)
“What A Beautiful Name” (2016 Hillsong) was a song we worshiped with, unplanned I’m certain. But it certainly hit it’s mark in the hearts of the worshipers. Some of the lyrics go like this…
“What a beautiful Name it is… the Name of Jesus Christ my King…” “You have no rival, You have no equal, now and forever God You reign..” “Yours is the kingdom, Yours is the glory, Yours is the Name above all names.”
Stan the speaker said the word of the day was, “Choose Me as the # 1 affection of your heart.” Then he said, “You know He reigns on His Throne. Does He reign in your heart? That’s the question?”
What a beautiful Name it is…
And He offers it to you…. Amen.
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Listen and meditate if you wish… “What A Beautiful Name” (Hillsong Worship)
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Stan ended with this verse, certainly noteworthy, ““Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.” (Jonah 2:8, NIV) Or as an earlier version of the NIV says, they “forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”