By GFI board member Mark Woita
The following passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter 12:1-11 is one of my most treasured. For many reasons. I lost my father to cancer when I was in high school. I became a Christian in college. Soon thereafter I claimed Psalm 68:5, that God would be “a Father to the fatherless”. And from this Hebrews passage I gained insight on WHO GOD IS … particularly as MY HEAVENLY FATHER.
Hebrews 12: 1”Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 FIXING OUR EYES UPON JESUS, the [a]originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary [b]and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted [c]to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons:
‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are punished by Him;
6 For THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
And He punishes every son whom He accepts.’
7 It is for discipline that you endure; GOD DEALS WITH YOU AS WITH SONS [emphasis mine]; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had [d]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of [e]spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but HE DICIPLINES US FOR OUR GOOD, so that we may share His holiness. 11 FOR THE MOMENT, ALL DISCIPLINE SEEMS NOT TO BE PLEASANT, BUT PAINFUL [emphasis mine]; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
But ALL Christians are adopted children of God! Not just us fatherless.
1 John 3: 1”See [a]how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are.”
Galatians 4: 6 Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba [Daddy!]! Father!”
God loves us. And He wants us to love Him. Loving Him is in our best interest. Hence the loving thing for God to want is for us to love Him. So much so, that He commands it! The Greatest Commandment is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, mind and soul.” And as a result, “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
So … nowadays … do we live in troubling times? Absolutely.
America’s version of “Pax Romana” appears to be coming to an end.
Tragic? Yes.
But we Christians, as adopted children of God, can say along with the Psalmist:
“Whom have in heaven but Thee?
And besides Thee I desire nothing on Earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.”
-Psalm 73:25-26
This inspired me. I was not close to my father.