
To the Christian God has many hats. He is a master, friend, brother, father, husband. These are more than just roles or
descriptors of human relationships. These names reveal important aspects of who God is and what he does. He
gives life, he rules by nature of his sovereignty, he tells us of his affairs, his son calls us brethren, and, he jealously and passionately
loves us (see 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Timothy 6:15, John 15:15, Hebrews 2:11, Deuteronomy 4:24 & Exodus 34:14 ). Because God is infinite and is the source of all
relationships, he can be all things to us at once; He can rule us as a master but love us as affectionately a father his kids or a husband his wife. Like eating a layered cake, we can experience and taste all the flavors of God simultaneously. Yet in order to even be allowed to partake of this cake, we must first acknowledge he is our master. Jesus, the Son of God, says "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me " (John 14:6) . It is only when we admit that Jesus is Lord, God, master, that we can have a relationship with God the Father and have him become all things to us .
Some refuse to acknowledge there is a God at all, let alone that he is master. Others intuitively know he should be their master but are afraid to approach him. What they are afraid of , and rightfully so, is his great holiness. God has expectations for us---laws for us to follow. He gave us a conscience and we know it is wrong to do things such as lie, steal, kill etc. (Romans 2:15). Because of his righteousness and holiness, God demands perfection and if you break even one part of his law, it is as bad as if you've broken all of the law (James 2:10). Unfortunately, because our ancestors Adam and Eve sinned, we have inherited this sin nature and are unable to walk perfectly before God ( Romans 5:12, 8: 7-8). However, God promised Adam and Eve he would give them a seed that would have ultimate victory over satan and death (Genesis 3:15). Nearly 4000 years later, through Abraham and the nation of Israel, Jesus Christ was born. He, the word of God, became a man order to live a perfect life in our steed. God poured out his wrath against humanity onto Jesus and he resurrected him from the grave so that all who believe in him might be given a perfect nature and be resurrected to life. Thus, if you accept Jesus into your life, you can approach the throne of God with confidence because your sins have been cleansed by Christ's blood ( Hebrews 4:16, Ephesians 3:12).
Despite this good news, there are Christians who have accepted Jesus as their Lord, yet do not know him as anything other than Master; they only scratch the surface of knowing God because they see him only through the eyes of fear. It is good to fear God in some ways. After all according to a well known verse, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10 a). The Hebrew word used for fear is yirah and it literally means awe or "reverence". We are to fear God in the sense that we revere and respect him, rather than being terrified of him as if we were still unrighteous. In addition, we must realize the fear of the Lord is only the beginning of wisdom, meaning there is much more wisdom to be attained. God does not want us to merely reverence him but also to be fond of him; he wants us to get to know him informally, to have a sense of easiness around him as you would your parent, sibling or best friend. God wants you to adore him as a father, to curl up in his lap like a child ( Mark 9:36). As our husband he is fully committed to us and wants passionate love from us as revealed through Ephesians 5:31-32 and allegorically through the Song of Songs. Thus, in order to know God truly we must move past the basic level of fearing him and become more acquainted with all his ways.
Some refuse to acknowledge there is a God at all, let alone that he is master. Others intuitively know he should be their master but are afraid to approach him. What they are afraid of , and rightfully so, is his great holiness. God has expectations for us---laws for us to follow. He gave us a conscience and we know it is wrong to do things such as lie, steal, kill etc. (Romans 2:15). Because of his righteousness and holiness, God demands perfection and if you break even one part of his law, it is as bad as if you've broken all of the law (James 2:10). Unfortunately, because our ancestors Adam and Eve sinned, we have inherited this sin nature and are unable to walk perfectly before God ( Romans 5:12, 8: 7-8). However, God promised Adam and Eve he would give them a seed that would have ultimate victory over satan and death (Genesis 3:15). Nearly 4000 years later, through Abraham and the nation of Israel, Jesus Christ was born. He, the word of God, became a man order to live a perfect life in our steed. God poured out his wrath against humanity onto Jesus and he resurrected him from the grave so that all who believe in him might be given a perfect nature and be resurrected to life. Thus, if you accept Jesus into your life, you can approach the throne of God with confidence because your sins have been cleansed by Christ's blood ( Hebrews 4:16, Ephesians 3:12).
Despite this good news, there are Christians who have accepted Jesus as their Lord, yet do not know him as anything other than Master; they only scratch the surface of knowing God because they see him only through the eyes of fear. It is good to fear God in some ways. After all according to a well known verse, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10 a). The Hebrew word used for fear is yirah and it literally means awe or "reverence". We are to fear God in the sense that we revere and respect him, rather than being terrified of him as if we were still unrighteous. In addition, we must realize the fear of the Lord is only the beginning of wisdom, meaning there is much more wisdom to be attained. God does not want us to merely reverence him but also to be fond of him; he wants us to get to know him informally, to have a sense of easiness around him as you would your parent, sibling or best friend. God wants you to adore him as a father, to curl up in his lap like a child ( Mark 9:36). As our husband he is fully committed to us and wants passionate love from us as revealed through Ephesians 5:31-32 and allegorically through the Song of Songs. Thus, in order to know God truly we must move past the basic level of fearing him and become more acquainted with all his ways.
Throughout this blog, I will focus on revealing God as a father and husband because we find elements of him as friend, brother and master encompassed in these roles. I have experienced these two realities regularly in my life and they are the most intimate pictures of himself he has given us.When this age is over we will experience the father and husband role of God more deeply than any other. Our eternal dwelling will be in our Father's house when we marry our Heavenly Groom (John 14:2, Revelations 19:7). If you have never given your life to God, I invite you to do so now and if you are already a believer, who either is stuck with a frightening image of God or just want know him more deeply, I too invite you to the rest of the series.
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