Close.

Last week we started looking at the type of Father, Papa God is. We looked at the story of the prodigal son. We saw that our Father is loving yet respectful of our right to choose what we want in life. However, should we ever choose Him, He is always there, arms open wide.

A while ago we looked at the attributes of God. We talked about how God is omnipresent. God is not an absent Father. He is not aloof or removed or distant from us. He wants to be close. God is the type of Father that shows up not just to the big game on Saturday. He shows up to practice and cheers just as loud as though it were an actual game. See, we watch TV where they tell us that the powerful guys are somewhat evil or doing things for their own benefit but those fictional characters are created by flawed humans. Our heavenly Father is nothing like we can imagine. God is everywhere present not so He can keep record of our mistakes or to “spy on us” but so He is close in case we ever need Him or call His Name. He is always just a breath away. That is a Father who loves us. He gives us space to be, yet He is close enough to catch us when we fall.

If we, as Christians, truly believed how good our heavenly Father is, we would have less stress, anxiety and worry in life. Matthew 6:25-33 says (and this is Jesus speaking), “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?”

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

Why then do we worry when the Bible tells us that we have such a wonderful heavenly Father who knows what we need and will provide what we need? Why do we have so little faith? Is it because we don’t believe that God is good? No, I don’t think so. I think we do believe that He is good but we struggle to believe that He wants to be good to us. We think God looks at us sideways or is mad at us or upset at us for one thing or another. Why is that?

We go through life like orphans without a Father because something in us is not quite settled that we truly are His children and that He loves us unconditionally, and truly wants to and will take care of us. That is why Jesus tells us, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he [Papa God] will give you everything you need.” Because when we become about our Father’s business, we stop trying to take care of ourselves and looking to ourselves for answers and in doing that, we make room for God to be able to step in and actually take care of us.

The spiritual reality is that the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were adopted into God’s family and we have a heavenly Father. However, not many of us have managed to take that spiritual reality and make it an actual reality in our everyday. We spend hours on end worrying. We stress over things we can easily hand over to God in prayer. We act as though we have to rescue ourselves and take care of ourselves like we got here on our own.

We didn’t just wake up here on earth. We have a Father who wanted us and created us and made us in His image. Who makes something in their image if they are going to discard it? You make something in your image to keep it close to you and each time you look at it, it reminds you of you. Moreso, when we are born again we are now IN Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and when our heavenly Father looks at us, He see us wrapped up in His beloved Son. He sees us in Him.

We have a heavenly Father who cares about us! So why are we out here stressing? Stop it. That is all. We’ll continue this next week!

In the meantime, find somewhere where you can serve God so you can be about your Father’s business and watch Him take care of yours.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.