A lady asked me about her grown son who is estranged from God spiritually.
“I’m so mad at Him,” the young man says, “that I feel like punching Him.”
I felt a little tinge of encouragement: perhaps we have here another “Saul of Tarsus” in-the-making.
God actually prefers the out-and-out opposition of someone rather than the indecisive, “lukewarm” attitude of hypocrisy of so many.
I suggested to this lady that she not write to her angry son by using the word “God,” but speak of “your heavenly Father.”
I did not know if this young man’s filial relationship to his earthly father was a good one, or vice versa; but we know that in either case, our concept of God must be that of being a child of a heavenly Father. I know that because Jesus Himself has taught us all to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven ... ”
Even for the young man who had a bad filial relationship to his earthly father, deep in his heart there is a hunger for the love of a good Father, and that good Father is the Lord Himself. All the while he feels like punching “God” in his anger against Him, deep in his soul is that unrequited longing for the real “Father.”
The apostle Paul, wise in the knowledge of human hearts, says that we have “received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father ... ” (Rom. 8:15).
Oh, what Good News! The heavenly Father has already given each of us the assurance of our being “adopted” into His family, whether we are worthy or not (well, none of us is really worthy!). Jesus gives every human being, even the vilest sinner, the privilege of praying the Lord’s Prayer: this is His “much more abounding grace” in actual operation!
Because of Christ’s sacrifice and what He has already done for us, the Father treats every human being kindly, even the wicked, as though he has never sinned.
“Come unto Me,” says Jesus (Matt.11:28); come!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
