Jesus replied, “Philip, I’ve been with you all this time and you still don’t know who I am? How could you ask me to show you the Father, for anyone who has looked at me has seen the Father.
— John 14:9 (TPT)
As we come to the climax of Christmas with hearts full of joy and gratefulness for Jesus coming into our world, I want to focus on God, the Father. He is a good, good Father!
Jesus came to show us a picture of the Father! I don’t know about you, but pictures I was given about God were not always what the Bible actually says about Him. But now Jesus is saying, “Look at me and you see the Father:” Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—his mirror image! . . .” (TPT). God’s actions and interactions with people are exactly like Jesus.
What is your picture of God? How do you see him in your imagination? Is He an old man with a long white beard and a rod in his hand? Do you see Him ready to strike you or glare at you when you do wrong? Where did this picture come from? How did you get it?
When the serpent spoke to Eve, he put doubt in her mind about the goodness of God by saying, “if you eat the fruit from this tree, you will be like God”. This made her think that God was holding out on her which is what the devil wanted her to think, even though God said they were made in His image and likeness, Eve either forgot what He said or doubted His word. And after they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve were embarrassed and afraid so they hid from God. Yet God went looking for them. Their picture of God had become distorted.
From that moment forward, the devil has tried to paint a false picture of God, as someone who is angry and ready to jump all over people. Even preachers present this picture. Yet, when you read the scripture above in John, Jesus is saying that one of his purposes in coming to earth was to show us who the Father really is. He is just like Jesus, always full of loving kindness, gentleness, and peace. This is a picture of someone who loves you, not someone who is mad at you.
When you read, “fear God” in the OT, the Hebrew word for fear means to honor and respect. It does not mean to be afraid of Him. You never see anybody being afraid of Jesus.
What you believe about God affects every part of your life. If you see Him as out to get you, then you will not want to have a close relationship with Him and you will always be afraid of Him. Who wants to spend time with someone like that? Not me! That’s not who He is. Besides always being good, God will never grow old because He lives outside of time, so he’s not an old man sitting on a throne.
God is the reason we have Christmas and celebrate Jesus! Spend some time assessing your picture of God. If it doesn’t fit the picture the Bible presents through Jesus, change it. Read the gospels and see Abba Father as He is – like Jesus. Merry Christmas!
“Because He appeared my soul feels it’s worth”
Celebrate Jesus!