I am lucky to have fathers in my life who have taken the Father of Us All as their exemplar, so it is easy for me to understand my relationship with God the Father, through comparing that relationship to my relationships with fathers on earth.
There are plenty of examples in the scriptures of God acting as a Father, and I'm sure everyone has the story that best represents their understanding of being a father or their relation to fathers. Please share those scriptures in the comments, I would love to read them.
As for me, I think of John 17:25. Christ has been offering his intercessory prayer and starts to close his prayer. He says " O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee . . ." My earthly father often comes across as a grumpy, mean man, people who don't know him are often scared of him. But, those who know him know he's like a roasted marshmallow, crusty on the outside, and warm and gooey in the inside. I think we often slip into seeing God the Father the way people who don't really know him see him. Its easy to forget the merciful kindness, and everlasting trust and forgiveness that the Father has as part of his divine personality. It is easy to focus on the stern, keep to the rules aspects of God.
Christ continues to express that the people who were able to get to know him, were able to get to know God the Father. That he was able to share the love of God the Father with them. This makes me think that we, as children of God the Father, can help people get to know Him, or remind them (and ourselves) of the God the Father we know. Like Christ did, we can make sure that our lives act as a reminder to those who have forgotten the Father that we know. He is kind and loving, He wants us to succeed, and feels our pain, and helps us through our trials.
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2 comments:
Wow! Thanks for the post. That is a good point, to make sure we continue to remember Heavenly Father as the kind, loving father.
Lately the father story that has stuck out to me is Alma the Elder. He probably taught young Alma the ways of the gospel (since he was the prophet) and he led with great example. Still Alma the younger chose to stray and go against the teachings of the church. Alma humbled himself and went in prayer to Heavenly Father, asking for guidance and ultimately turning it over to him. He didn't give up on his son, he just took a less-noticeable effort. The care he has for his son is very apparent to me and it shows an example of a good father that has a troubled child. Obviously not all fathers will have their children return to them in such a fashion, but it helps the feeling of loneliness or the feeling of guilt/shame lessen to know a prophet had similar struggles.
To continue on in the same family line, Kirstin, I have been reading Alma the Younger's counsel to his sons. One thing that stands out to me is his great humility. He's always giving the glory to the Lord, never taking credit for the blessings and knowledge he's received. (Alma 36:4-5; 38:6) Alma's example was surely worthy of emulation, but he points to it not in a prideful manner, but rather as an invitation and a testimony. Instead of drawing attention to himself, his righteous example encourages his sons to look to God and live (Alma 37:47)I think Christ followed this same pattern of humility when he said "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God." (see Matt 19:17; Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19)
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