This is a guest post by Alf Evans who previously led Wakeboard Church and is now following God in Cambodia with his family. If you are interested in writing a post for us, visit our Guest Post page. You can also view other guest posts by clicking here.
We talked a lot about daddy issues at camp recently. Seems there’s alot of it going around. And unfortunately it seems to get in the way with our walk with God. The relationship we have with our earthly fathers seems to be a type of lens that we use to look at a relationship with the Heavenly Father. I started thinking about my own kids and my desire for them to have a beautiful picture of a Heavenly Father through me. I honestly know that I’m going to sell them short. Think about how awesome our Heavenly Father is. He’s perfect.
I would say that 90% of the time I’m irritated with my kids or scold them is because I’m at the ends of my own limitations. For example: My kids jump on me with completely filthy clothes/hands/face…you get the idea. And I’m wearing my brand new pair of board shorts. I know this might sound trivial, but board shorts to me are like designer jeans…and when they’re new I like them to stay that way for a long time. So when a muddy kids jumps on them, I’m less concerned about the kid, but I’m concerned about the board shorts. Now…lets assess this. This is bad parenting. And it ultimately stems from my own limitations. Another example: The kids are supposed to be in their rooms napping, and lo and behold one of them wants to have art time…on the walls of the house. Ultimately I’m upset about them destroying or damaging my own property. It is property that I can fix, but I’m probably upset about the time and the resources that I’ll have to spend to fix the problem.
Now, lets look at a heavenly Father for a second. I sit on his lap dirty. No problem, he’s completely clean. He’s completely Holy. So Holy in fact that I can’t even sit on His lap unless I’ve been made clean by His son Jesus. It’s not an issue of me getting Him dirty…it’s more an issue of me getting dirty…or obliterated. Lets talk about the issue of God having to spend time or resources to fix what I broke. Hmph. No problem, Dad is beyond time, beyond resources and has no limits. It’s really me that has the limitations.
So contrast me with a holy, heavenly father, and the differences are vast. So vast in fact that I can’t really compare myself to God. And neither can a kid. Now I understand that since kids are just around their dads day in and day out, that will end up being the standard for “dad”, but I wonder if it should be. As fathers we need to be pointing to the Heavenly Father with every action and every moment. If an earthly father isn’t doing that, then shame on him, and when the kid has an issue with calling the Heavenly Father “daddy”, it’s not so much God’s fault as it is the earthly father’s fault.
Today…go hug your earthly father, and go spend some time with your Heavenly Father. Oh, and make sure you address Him in the correct fashion:
Daddy.
