Who's Your Daddy?
Who's Your Daddy?
by Tom McClung
The word father evokes a range of emotions and reactions in people. It is no surprise that in an increasingly fatherless society, many of those reactions are now negative. Our society has all but canceled dads, and dads themselves share in some of the blame. Some dads are physically absent while others are mentally checked out or unconcerned with raising their children. Some dads do the best they can but have very little knowledge of how to be a dad. And even the best dads fail at times.
Should we be surprised, though, that we see this attack on fatherhood when God calls Himself our Father? Tell kids that God is their father, and the first image that will come to mind is an image of their own father. It’s the only way they can relate to the concept. Is their own father angry all the time? Drunk? Checked out? Absent? Then guess who God becomes for them! And the scary part is, we may continue to have that same perception of God even into adulthood unless we receive a radical revelation of who God really is, how He wants to relate to us, and what that means for us moving forward in life.
I personally had a great dad. He passed away in 2019, and I really miss him - especially the relationship that we had developed over the last few years of his life. It was a huge improvement over my teen years when we butted heads often – and often over little, stupid things. And yet, through it all, I knew he loved me.
When I became a dad in 2009, I found that there was nothing sweeter than eventually hearing my kids call me “Da-Da.” And while that has now changed to “Daddy,” I love it just the same. There is something about having kids that is supposed to help us gain a better understanding of how God relates us – and how we are supposed to relate God.
God - the Creator of the Universe, the creator of the land, seas, animals, and people - chooses to relate to us as a loving Dad. Yet many of us - or is it just me? - don't understand how to relate to Him as His child. We don't see Him as our Dad. You may, like I did, see God was as a more formal father – maybe as Jesus’ father – or even an unapproachable father, but not as your own Daddy. Well, at least that is one step above how the Jews viewed Him. But Jesus came to change all of that.
It was Jesus who introduced us to God as a loving father as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. He constantly referred to God as a Father throughout message. The religious leaders of the time were scandalized! How could anyone refer to God in such a way?
It was completely intentional, though, and Jesus went on to describe just what kind of Father God is in Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Look at that part where Jesus compares God to the dads around him, essentially saying, “You think you are a good person? Compared to God, you are evil. And yet, when your children ask you for something good, you give them something good. You give them the best you have – because you love them. They are special to you. So why do you think a perfect Father who loves His children more than you love your own would be any different?”
And Jesus didn’t stop there. Mark 14:36 records Jesus speaking with God in the Garden of Gethsemane – pleading with Him to find another way to save humanity. It is here we see how intimate a relationship Jesus has with God – calling Him not just Father, but Abba, or Daddy.
That is the kind of relationship Jesus has with the God the Father. A personal, intimate relationship – the kind of relationship that allows a child to climb up into his daddy’s lap at any time. I know that when my children want to sit in my lap, I stop what I am doing and focus my attention on them. But can I have that with God? Can I do the climbing? Would He treat me the same way?
The Apostle Paul says we can! He teaches us in Galatians 4:5-6 that God chose us – adopted us - to be His children through the sacrifice of His own Son. (That’s a huge shout-out to adoptive dads everywhere, by the way. Any man can become a father by producing a child, but it truly takes a special man to choose and love a child who is not his own.)
Paul goes on to say that because we are now God’s children, we have the same Spirit of sonship that Jesus has – in other words, the same right to the same intimate relationship with God that Jesus has! We can call Him Daddy because He wants us to! We can have His attention and affection! We can expect that He will give us good things when we ask!
So, what is your view of God? Is He distant? Is He angry? Or is He loving and generous? Is He Daddy? Our dads, no matter how great they may be, cannot compare to the One who is perfect. Disconnect your view of God from that of your imperfect father and experience the type of relationship that God longs to share with you – just like He does with Jesus!
Tom McClung
by Tom McClung
The word father evokes a range of emotions and reactions in people. It is no surprise that in an increasingly fatherless society, many of those reactions are now negative. Our society has all but canceled dads, and dads themselves share in some of the blame. Some dads are physically absent while others are mentally checked out or unconcerned with raising their children. Some dads do the best they can but have very little knowledge of how to be a dad. And even the best dads fail at times.
Should we be surprised, though, that we see this attack on fatherhood when God calls Himself our Father? Tell kids that God is their father, and the first image that will come to mind is an image of their own father. It’s the only way they can relate to the concept. Is their own father angry all the time? Drunk? Checked out? Absent? Then guess who God becomes for them! And the scary part is, we may continue to have that same perception of God even into adulthood unless we receive a radical revelation of who God really is, how He wants to relate to us, and what that means for us moving forward in life.
I personally had a great dad. He passed away in 2019, and I really miss him - especially the relationship that we had developed over the last few years of his life. It was a huge improvement over my teen years when we butted heads often – and often over little, stupid things. And yet, through it all, I knew he loved me.
When I became a dad in 2009, I found that there was nothing sweeter than eventually hearing my kids call me “Da-Da.” And while that has now changed to “Daddy,” I love it just the same. There is something about having kids that is supposed to help us gain a better understanding of how God relates us – and how we are supposed to relate God.
God - the Creator of the Universe, the creator of the land, seas, animals, and people - chooses to relate to us as a loving Dad. Yet many of us - or is it just me? - don't understand how to relate to Him as His child. We don't see Him as our Dad. You may, like I did, see God was as a more formal father – maybe as Jesus’ father – or even an unapproachable father, but not as your own Daddy. Well, at least that is one step above how the Jews viewed Him. But Jesus came to change all of that.
It was Jesus who introduced us to God as a loving father as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. He constantly referred to God as a Father throughout message. The religious leaders of the time were scandalized! How could anyone refer to God in such a way?
It was completely intentional, though, and Jesus went on to describe just what kind of Father God is in Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Look at that part where Jesus compares God to the dads around him, essentially saying, “You think you are a good person? Compared to God, you are evil. And yet, when your children ask you for something good, you give them something good. You give them the best you have – because you love them. They are special to you. So why do you think a perfect Father who loves His children more than you love your own would be any different?”
And Jesus didn’t stop there. Mark 14:36 records Jesus speaking with God in the Garden of Gethsemane – pleading with Him to find another way to save humanity. It is here we see how intimate a relationship Jesus has with God – calling Him not just Father, but Abba, or Daddy.
That is the kind of relationship Jesus has with the God the Father. A personal, intimate relationship – the kind of relationship that allows a child to climb up into his daddy’s lap at any time. I know that when my children want to sit in my lap, I stop what I am doing and focus my attention on them. But can I have that with God? Can I do the climbing? Would He treat me the same way?
The Apostle Paul says we can! He teaches us in Galatians 4:5-6 that God chose us – adopted us - to be His children through the sacrifice of His own Son. (That’s a huge shout-out to adoptive dads everywhere, by the way. Any man can become a father by producing a child, but it truly takes a special man to choose and love a child who is not his own.)
Paul goes on to say that because we are now God’s children, we have the same Spirit of sonship that Jesus has – in other words, the same right to the same intimate relationship with God that Jesus has! We can call Him Daddy because He wants us to! We can have His attention and affection! We can expect that He will give us good things when we ask!
So, what is your view of God? Is He distant? Is He angry? Or is He loving and generous? Is He Daddy? Our dads, no matter how great they may be, cannot compare to the One who is perfect. Disconnect your view of God from that of your imperfect father and experience the type of relationship that God longs to share with you – just like He does with Jesus!
Tom McClung
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1 Comment
This is a great message. I hope it reaches a lot of people. I will share it! 👑