Sunday Rewind 12.14.08

Throughout the season of Advent, we are exploring a prophecy spoken 700 years before Jesus’ birth. In an era of turmoil, confusion, and desperation, Isaiah spoke these words, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

This week, we focused on “Everlasting Father”.

Father. That word father churns up memories, images and emotions. Maybe your dad was great. If so, thank God for that. But the reality is that many people do not have good memories about Dad.

Some lived with fathers who were never satisfied. Others lived with fathers who were always angry. Some lived with fathers who were seldom there. And it's so easy to project the experiences we had with our earthly fathers onto our Heavenly Father.

The problem is that when we do that, we get a distorted picture of God. It's like looking through a defective lens...the we don't get a true picture of reality. But when we put down the lens of our earthly father and look at God through the lens of Scripture, a different picture emerges. We see an Everlasting Father who is:

• Compassionate (Psalm 103:8; Matthew 11:28-29). There's nothing we can do to make God love us more. There's nothing we can do to make God love us less. That means we can get off the hampster wheel. God accepts us for who we are. So, in His presence, we can simply rest.
• Caring (Jeremiah 29:11). Jesus is not angry with you. You don’t have to tip toe around, hoping to stay under the radar. He is caring beyond what we can comprehend, and will never, ever harm you or abuse you.
• Always there (Hebrews 13:5) God will never abandon you. You never have to crane your neck to look for him in the stands. You never have to wonder if he’s going to come home tonight. And he's is never distracted by anything.

This is what we see when we look at Jesus through the lens of Scripture. He is our Everlasting Father. If you’ll turn to him, he’s there… longing to shower you with compassion… longing to care for you... to be there for you no matter what.