God as Your Father
It’s dangerous to leave me alone with a good book. Right now I’m reading Tim Keller’s Jesus the King, and I keep finding incredible statements that beg to be shared. Here’s one I just found. The context is the Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus begging for help for her demon-possessed daughter. The Greek, Keller says, is “present progressive—she keeps on begging. Nothing and no one can stop her.” And then he gives this astonishing commentary:
“You know why she has this burst of boldness, don’t you? There are cowards, there are regular people, there are heroes, and then there are parents. Parents are not really on the spectrum from cowardice to courage, because if your child is in jeopardy, you simply do what it takes to save her. It doesn’t matter whether you’re normally timid or brazen—your personality is irrelevant. You don’t think twice; you do what it takes.”[1]
Did you get that? A parent will “do what it takes.” I couldn’t help but make the leap to God as our Father. Especially at this time of the year as we think about the “reason for the season,” we are reminded of the astonishing lengths God went to in order to redeem His children.
- “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
- “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
- “The Lord is not slow to keep his promise… Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9)
- “To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).
So right now, if you have not already done so, please accept God’s gracious gift of salvation and adoption into His family. Call on Jesus now, for “Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Go Deeper
- Pandemics, Plagues, and Natural Disasters – Book
- The Biblical Case For the Rapture of All Christians
- Step by Step through Creation
[1] Timothy Keller, Jesus the King (Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.), pp. 93-94.
