The fatherhood of God, Part 2

In my last post, I highlighted the state of fatherhood today and the crisis of fatherhood with the spotlight in  m nation of Kenya. I do believe the statistics border one another across the globe.

The conclusion was to bring us to attention to the source of our being; to him who has loved us unconditionally and limitless.

And I love this verse by john which we finished with in my last post.

Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1^st John 3:1 American standard version)

 See what great love Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him (NIV)

Notice the choice of words by the NIV translators ‘lavish’ which is a stronger word than ‘to bestow’ which has an insinuation of expending excessivelyor profusely. God our father has expended, given us his love excessively or profusely. This is our heavenly father who typifies what our earthly fathers should be; those who expend love, care and protection profusely to their members but why is the crisis of fatherhood so rampant today? I believe its because the devil is damn aware of the potential and power of a loving dadand is determined to curtail and prevent this potential from being realised at all cost.

In our post today, I will seek to delve deeper into this issue of the fatherhood of God. We will explore some attributes of God our father and marry them with what earthly dads and men in general should typify.

1.     God our father as source

 God in history was never refereed to as father until the new testament, though he has been the father of creation, father of all who lived from the old testament.

1 Cor 8:6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. NIV

Isaiah 64:8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
    We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand. NIV

Acts 17:22- 29

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So, you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[c]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

He is our source of life, no matter how strong or self-sufficient a man (male and female) seems or suggests to be he is never self-sufficient. He can never be like a former giant retail chain in Kenya ‘Nakumatt’ whose catchphrase “You need it you ve got it almost got all of us Kenyans esteeming Nakumatt as a demigod of the supermarket chain industry. Who thought that Nakumatt would go under the way it went? Man is not a ‘you need it, you ve got it’ he has a beginning and an end’ predetermined by God who is the source of life for in him we live, move and have our being.

He is your source you are the clay and he is the potter. THE Very works of his hands, readily available at his disposal to use and to form at will. Until this truth is settled in man, he will operate as a rabid dog biting everything it comes across. Until man’s identity is firmly secured in his God as the source of life, he will chest thump, belittle, pride, take credit for everything, work hard, self-love, overarch, lord it over others, etc. perhaps more than he should.

Wow this just one point out of three that I had, lets reserve the next two for the next post lets this becomes a very large and lengthy post. I hope this concept is beginning to take shape as we progress. The next two points; God the father as our identity and God the father; who has taken initiative and my conclusion will   be covered in my next post. Stay blessed and stay put!