Some friends of mine and I are going through some Scripture passages together. We have been doing a study on the Lord’s Prayer.

For those that are familiar, you know that this prayer starts out “Our Father in Heaven.”

We dissected this passage and discussed it. What we came to realize were some very relevant truths.

1) Our Father: For many people this word brings up all kinds of images. And unfortunately, they’re not all good. Unfortunately, some people’s images of “father” is far away from what God is and wants to be to us. I think Jesus understood this. Some of us have the tendency to filter our view of Christ through our image of our earthly fathers. So, if our dad walked out on us when we were young, we have a hard time embracing the truth that God will never leave us or forsake us. If our dad was a tyrrant, we have a hard time believing that God accepts us just the way we are. Embracing these truths is the best thing we can do, and it might mean going back and making ammends with our earthly fathers if we can. This might be a very good first step.

2) In Heaven: When I used to read this portion of the passage, it used to mess me up. In modern day, American English, this scripture is done no justice. It automatically puts distance between God and us. It suggests that we are here on earth and God is out in space somewhere that we can’t see. But the truth is that while God is so transcendent that He created the heavens and the earth, he is also chooses to condescend to us and live in us and among us. The word for heaven here, in the Greek, is the word ouranos - which literally means “air”. What Jesus is trying to communicate to us is that while our earthly fathers may be distant, God is as close to us as the air we breathe. Man, the term “heavenly father” takes on a whole new meaning now.

I want these two truths to be walked out completely in my life. I want to be the kind of person that understands God for who He is. My father, as close to me as the air I breathe, who loves me just the way I am, and wants to see the very best come out of me.

I’m stoked about this. I am so pumped about this.

I’ll write more tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 3rd, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under 21CW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.