Family First

One of my first observations about the Lord’s Prayer is that God first and foremost relates to us as Family.  He could have used corporate language, which is not uncommon in scripture (e.g., Lord, or Master) or government/headship terms (like King).  Nor did He direct us to address God as merely Creator.  What’s so special about the term Father?

The Hebrew term Av (father) and its Aramaic cousin Abba (daddy or ‘dear father’) convey the notion of one who is willing, desires, or decides.  It carries the idea of intentionally choosing.  This says a lot about our spiritual adoption as God’s children.  Indeed He chose us before we ever accepted Him, just as a child is adopted into a new family.

Fortunately for us, he is not a mere Creator, as the deists have claimed.  He didn’t just drop us off here and leave.  His intentionality is constant as He pursues us throughout our lives.  Thus He “never leaves us nor forsakes us.”

How strange it must seem to God when a church acts more like a business and an institution than a family. May heaven help us to reflect this truth in our church life!