A Loving Father

 "Jesus came to reveal the heart of God, to demonstrate a loving Father who would go so far as to give His only Son to redeem mankind."

A MAN CANNOT CHANGE WHO HE IS through self-effort alone, not without great trial and tribulation. To go from being rash and insolent to a calm and unperturbed man comes at a cost when done through himself alone. He must isolate himself and tend to his own things rather than lay them on another lest conflict arise between them. He walks ever with a guard up, wary. Outside of the Spirit of God working in him, all his effort becomes a challenge which may succeed or fail.

Salvation gives man everything. God did not simply save the spirit, or heart, of man then leave him to suffer in his mind and emotions. Nor did He rescue us from our sins and turn His back on our physical suffering. God, the Father sent God, the Son to earth to die and rise again. Both Jesus’ death and His Resurrection were needed to fulfill God’s will as recorded in Scripture, so that God, the Spirit could come to earth as the breath of God blown upon every part of our lives. Whatever He is we are because of Jesus’ sacrifice and victory. Jesus condemned sin in the flesh and the enemy of mankind, the devil, was judged and found guilty.

The fullness of our salvation must be grasped, or we will live below God’s desire for us. And that is His heart—to give us all He desires. From salvation we have His life, which is eternal, He never dies so we will never die in our spirit man. From Him, we receive also all wisdom and physical sustenance. Did not Jesus state the Father’s heart for us? Your Father in heaven knoweth what you have need of (Matthew 6:32. We need never worry about food and clothing, nor our finances. He knows what we must pay and to whom and when it is due. He would not leave us short in money. We know how to give gifts to our children. How much more does our heavenly Father (Matthew 7:11)? Nor does He overlook physical suffering. Jesus is God. He came to earth as God’s gift to men, but in coming as a man, to live in a man’s body, He set aside the power of His Godhead. This is recorded in Philippians 2:7. Jesus made Himself of “no reputation” in order to live among us and demonstrate the power of the Spirit of God upon the lives of men.

“But he stripped himself and took the form of a Servant and was in the form of the children of men, and was found in fashion as a man.” (Philippians 2:7, PHB translated)

Jesus came to reveal the heart of God, to demonstrate a loving Father who would go so far as to give His only Son to redeem mankind. This was not a last-minute choice but one prophesied from the beginning of time. The Father and the Son with the Spirit set down their will through the hand of Moses that Jesus would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). All of man’s being was designed for this, from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). We were designed in God’s image after His likeness; He was born in ours and died like a man, shedding His blood on a cruel cross, an agony beyond what the mind can grasp, so that His blood would cleanse the heart and make the way plain for us to approach the Father, who loved us SO MUCH (John 3:16).

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not (Lamentations 3:22).” And in the Psalms, we are told on repeat that God’s mercy is everlasting. Something everlasting never ends or wears out or fades from view. It is not depleted but is a source of continuous action. God’s Word never changes but every word is powerful to produce results. Jesus Christ never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). As is the mercy and compassion which caused Him to do such a great thing for mankind. The mercy with which He viewed the multitudes as He stood before them will never end. The mercy with which we are saved and blessed with so great a blessing of God’s goodness is eternal.

“Because no word from God shall be void of power.” (Luke 1:37 NENT)

He is God, and He was God among men, but He walked among us as a servant, painting the Father’s image in character, in nature, in discipline, in godliness, in holiness. In generosity, in abundance, in mercifulness. In every way He is like the Father, who bids us to be like Christ and enables us through the power of the Holy Spirit to love on that same scale, to see people with an equal amount of compassion, to speak the Word in the same authority. To understand who we are in Christ with His wisdom and so to prosper and be in health as our lifestyle (1 John 1:2).

“He is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the first-born heir of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15 TPT)

"But to all those who respond to God's call—whether Jew or Gentile—Christ is the embodiment of the character, wisdom, and power of God!" (1 Corinthians 1:24, Remedy)

Photo by Dan Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com