Thought of the Day July 19, 2018 The Father's love
Our image of God as Father and our image of ourselves as beloved sons and daughters may not reflect the reality of God and the reality of our true identity.
Our image of God as Father is sometimes colored, determined and blurred by our image of our earthly father. If our human father was kind, loving, encouraging, caring, patient but firm, outreaching, personal, intimate, correcting but accepting, then we see God the Father similarly. If our human father was distant, uncaring, disapproving, unemotional, never hugged us or said verbally nor physically that he loved us, too busy for us, never close, hard to talk to, made us fearful of him, punished us unreasonably, then we will see the Heavenly Father with the same understanding.
Jesus came to reveal the true picture of His Father, who is our Father. Jesus was a reflection and an instrument of the Father’s love. “I do what my Father shows me. To see me is to see the Father. The Father and I are one; If you know me you would know the Father." And he promised to send the Spirit, whom the Father poured out upon us out of his great love for us. Jesus told us that the Spirit will teach us and remind us all that he, Jesus, taught us. The Spirit, who is love--the bond of the Father and the Son’s mutual love--will enable us to come to know the Father’s love revealed in and through Jesus: to know this love not only intellectually in our head, but emotionally in our heart and through our experience. (To be continued)
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