Most of my friends who have been adopted wish, upon adulthood, to find their biological parents. There is something that completes us when we find our roots. I know a man who wishes he had been adopted. His biological roots, his parents, did not provide much of a childhood. He wished he had had better. Our relationships with our parents can be very complicated. They start off being our gods and end up being our children. It is a mystical journey.
It must have been the product of much thought when God decided to represent Himself to us as our Father. He knew that came loaded with horrendous stacks of baggage. Your father and my father were very different. To tell us to call Him Father meant each of us would have a unique experience with Him. Basically speaking, your God and my God are different even though we think He is the same. When I am puzzled by people’s reactions to a sermon, I have to remind myself everyone who listened arrived at church via a very different road.
In Romans and Galatians Paul speaks of our being adopted by God into His family. I wish I could speak with Paul about the reverse side of that coin. When we respond to God’s call it is us who are adopting Him. We are adults. We see this all powerful needy God desperately wanting to be part of our family. He wants to be included in our lives. He wants to attend our birthdays and go for walks with us. He is hurt when we fail to recognize His need. Am I overly anthropomorphizing the God who is a spirit? Probably so, but who’s to say?
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 3, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org