The Daily Guide
Calling God father!
Jesus answered them, 'My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.' Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
John 5:17-18 - NKJV
What was it about what Jesus said that made the Jews seek to kill Him? Jesus called God His Father. He did so in a way that conveyed an intimacy of relationship. The Jews were outraged by this. His tone and phrase was too personalised for their liking. In it they heard Jesus expressing a child-father relationship so close that it indicated a mutual bond of love and understanding.
Jesus startled the Jews because He called God Father. The way He did expressed a oneness with God. They had religion. He had relationship. This exposed the emptiness of their ritual and it offended them! How could this Jesus of Nazareth be speaking of God as His Father just like knew Him personally as a father figure? How could He talk as if could confide in God intimately. Indignantly the Jews questioned within themselves, "How can this man have an intimate family relationship with God? How can this man be on such terms with God?"
How do you refer to God? Do you speak of Him as your Father in a way that startles people? Do you pray to God saying, "Dad, my Father?" If you know Jesus has come into your life as your Saviour and you know that He has made you God's child by His Spirit then you know you can! You have been brought by Jesus into a child-father relationship with God that is like unto His own. Take this to heart and it will change how you call upon God. It will change how you relate to God.
Speak to God as your Heavenly Father
Copyright © 2005 P.F. (Simon) Measures
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