Not far into John’s Gospel, Jesus is gaining enemies at every turn. He uses a whip to drive men and livestock out of the temple. He chooses breaks a religious law to heal a man who cannot walk. But it is because of his words that they seek all the more to kill him. To their anger over the healing, Jesus simply replies, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”(1)

To the person well-versed in biting comebacks and fatal rhetoric, these words don’t seem at all like fighting-words. But to Jewish leaders who knew a history of combating (and failing to combat) the polytheistic influences of surrounding nations, Jesus uttered what seemed the most blasphemous notion possible. He called God his own Father.

The notion of God as Father was not a new concept. Even to the Jews who took offense at Jesus’s words that day, God was understood as Father in the sense that God is Creator, that God is Lord, that God is protector and forgiver. Fourteen times in the Old Testament God is spoken of as Father, and each instance depicts a glimpse of divine fatherhood.

But here, Jesus added to the notion of Father a distinct element of intimacy and uniqueness with himself. Nowhere in Palestinian Judaism is God addressed by an individual as “My father.”(2) Jesus’s use of such a title—and elsewhere the very intimate “abba” or daddy—reveals the very basis of his communion with God. To the religious leaders who considered themselves guardians of the profane and the sacred, to the crowds who would have known the significance, these words would have revealed a scandalous glimpse into the mind of Jesus. All the more scandalous, Jesus later extends his communion with God the Father to his followers. “This, then, is how you should pray,” he says:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.(3)

Whether a Christian familiar with the prayer and titles of the Trinity or a secularist familiar with religious jargon, it might seem rather basic to approach the mysterious thought that Christ is Son and God is Father. “Heavenly Father” and “only Son” are phrases over which our contemporary ears barely perk. Even those for whom the love of a father was absent or the love of a present father was treasured, the vast allowance of being able to call God Father hardly seems a matter to consider. We might even lump it casually together with other generic religious tidbits. Yet it is not a quality inherent in other religions; it is, in fact, an obstruction to some, an enigma to others. The Christian confidence and comfort that God can be approached as Father is the unique and vital gift of the Son made available through the Spirit.

And such is the startling, radical message of the Christian story. As one theologian notes, “[T]his one word ‘Father,’ together with ‘Our,’ contain all these concepts [Creator, Lord, King, Lawgiver] yet at the same time reveals them as intimacy, as love, as a unique, unrepeatable and joyful union.”(4) What might it mean to you to have access to a Father who knows you by name, in whose house you are invited to be who you truly are—to live and work and play as God created you. What if there is indeed a Father who waits, who longs to gather his children together and take them into his arms? Some will be transformed by love, some will be broken by love, some will refuse to be gathered by love. But God offers a place, positioned within the greater offer of adoption and the hope of participation in the kingdom. What if God is indeed our Father whose name is hallowed and whose kingdom we seek, whom we know through the Son and worship in the Spirit as children of the divine?

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) John 5:17.
(2) See Joachim Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002).
(3) Matthew 6:9-10.
(4) Alexander Schmemann, Our Father (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), 19-20.

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the lord. He went down to Joppa.

Jonah 1:3

Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God told him, Jonah disliked the work and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are occasions when God’s servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God’s love. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should do, God is with us; and though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we retreat and seek to establish our own agenda, we are at sea without a pilot. Then we will bitterly lament and groan out, “O my God, where have You gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun Your service, and in this way lose all the bright shinings of Your face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in Your presence.”

In the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. Sin soon destroys a believer’s comfort. It is the poisonous tree whose leaves distill deadly drops that destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any other case. He could not plead the promise of divine protection, for he was not in God’s ways; he could not say, “Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty; therefore help me through them.” He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own ways.

Christian, do not play the Jonah unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he had to go to Tarshish after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us yield ourselves to Him immediately.

The family reading plan for February 25, 2012

Job 25 , 26 | 1 Corinthians 12

Malachi 4:5-6

Have you ever wondered why a priority of Elijah’s ministry in the last days involves restoring the relationship between fathers and children (v. 6)? Perhaps it’s because the father has a powerful role, both in the development of emotional health in his offspring, and in the shaping of their perceptions about God. By his example, a dad can either draw his children to the Lord or push them away.

Sometimes the easiest way to understand this is to look at negative paternal examples:

• The angry, unpredictable father instills fear in his children and teaches them that God is a tyrant who lashes out unexpectedly.
• A critical, demanding dad makes his kids feel inadequate. They see God as a strict taskmaster who’s never pleased.
• The uninvolved or absent father sends the message that his children are unimportant, and both he and God are too busy for them.
• A macho dad’s tough, uncaring nature leads his children to feel unloved and conclude that the Lord doesn’t love them either.
• A fault-finding or abusive father conveys that his child is worthless and God is full of condemnation.

But a man with Christlike character provides children with a healthy emotional connection, not only to their earthly dad, but also to their heavenly Father.

Think about how your earthly father helped to shape your perception of God. The Bible will reveal whether your understanding of Him is rooted in truth or error. If you were blessed with a father who demonstrated the love and compassion of God, take the time to thank Him for this priceless blessing

Rejoice in God’s Compassionate Love  –  O Lord of Hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem? . . . And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel.

Zechariah 1:13-14

What a sweet answer to an anxious inquiry! This night let us rejoice in it. O Zion, there are good things in store for you; your time of travail will soon be over; your children shall come forth; your captivity shall end. Bear patiently the rod for a season, and under the darkness still trust in God, for His love burns toward you.

God loves the church with a love too deep for human imagination: He loves her with all His infinite heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage; she cannot be far from prosperity to whom God speaks “gracious and comforting words.” The prophet goes on to tell us: “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.” The Lord loves His church so much that He cannot bear that she should go astray to others; and when she has done so, He cannot endure that she should suffer too much or too heavily.

He will not have his enemies afflict her: He is displeased with them because they increase her misery. When God seems most to leave His church, His heart is warm toward her.

History shows that whenever God uses a rod to chasten His servants, He always breaks it afterwards, as if He loathed the rod that gave his children pain. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.”1

God has not forgotten us because He strikes–His blows are no evidences of absence of love. If this is true of His church collectively, it is also necessarily true of each individual member. You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: He who counts the stars and calls them by their names is in no danger of forgetting His own children. He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature He ever made or the only saint He ever loved. Approach Him and be at peace.

1 Psalm 103:13

The family reading plan for February 24, 2012

Job 24 | 1 Corinthians 11

Wounded Parents, Wounded Children
Jeremiah 32:17-19

So often when we deal with difficult people, it’s easy to form judgments about them based on their behavior or attitudes. But have you ever stopped to wonder what has made that person so disagreeable or foolish? When the Bible says God “repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children” (v. 18), it is speaking about generational cycles of sin. Unless someone in the family line makes a deliberate choice to change, sinful and dysfunctional behavior will be passed from parent to child for many generations.

This is really just a confirmation of the principle of sowing and reaping. We pass down standards for conduct and character traits that we received from our parents. If we are unwilling to change our sinful habits and attitudes, they will very likely find their way into our children’s lives.

What is true for sin is also true for wounding. When a child is emotionally bruised in the home, his behavior and character may be negatively affected. With this in mind, think about a difficult person that you know. What hurts do you think shaped his or her life? A heart of compassion originates from a willingness to empathize with those who have been wounded. This doesn’t excuse someone’s sin, but it does aid in opening our hearts toward the individual.

What about you? Have childhood wounds contributed to who you are today? How have they affected your life? If you haven’t dealt with them, you’ll probably pass similar hurts down to your children. But with God’s help, you can break this cycle and begin a new one that will benefit future generations

“Take Up Your Cross…”    . . . Take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23

You do not make your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will wants to be lord and master. But your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you must cheerfully accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand complaining.

This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in pride, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus.

Jesus was a cross-bearer; He leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if He carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The Via Crucis is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny paths. Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers or lined with velvet; it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colors; it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of Sorrows tried the load.

Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it that like Moses you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble.

May the Lord help you bow your spirit in submission to the divine will before you fall asleep tonight, so that waking with tomorrow’s sun, you may go forth to the day’s cross with the holy and submissive spirit that is fitting for a follower of the Crucified.

The family reading plan for February 23, 2012

Job 23 | 1 Corinthians 10

The Call to Serve
Philippians 2:7-9 

When it comes to serving in the church, people rarely request positions where they will go unnoticed. They usually ask to be involved in a place of leadership.

Now, there is nothing wrong with heading a committee. But God calls us to have a servant’s heart: He desires that our motive be to glorify Him, not ourselves.

Over the years, I’ve had many conversations with young men studying at seminary. Countless times, they share the desire to lead a sizable church. And those who are called to a small congregation frequently struggle with feelings of insignificance.

My encouragement to them is this: In His great love, God places us where He wants us to serve, and every task we undertake should be given our all, whether there’s one person listening or a multitude. We ultimately serve Jesus, and He is not concerned with the recognition we receive. He desires our obedience and our best effort. This is true not just for pastors but for all believers.

There are many reasons the Lord calls us to serve. First, He rids us of pride and selfishness, allowing our focus to be on Him. Second, we proclaim our love for Christ through our care for one another. Third, God tests and purifies our hearts through service.

How do you define success? A common response is “achieving predetermined goals.” Scripture’s definition, however, is different. The Lord desires that we discover His plan, obey, and become all that He intended. In other words, for success in the biblical sense, God sets the goals

Slow to Anger   –   The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.

Nahum 1:3

Jehovah “is slow to anger.” When mercy comes into the world, she drives winged horses; the axles of her chariot-wheels are red-hot with speed. But when wrath goes forth, it toils on with tardy footsteps, for God takes no pleasure in the sinner’s death. God’s rod of mercy is always in His hands outstretched; His sword of justice is in its scabbard, held down by that pierced hand of love that bled for the sins of men.

“The LORD is slow to anger” because He is “great in power.” He is truly great in power who has power over himself. When God’s power restrains Himself, then it is power indeed: The power that binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. A man who has a strong mind can bear to be insulted and only resents the wrong when a sense of right demands his action. The weak mind is irritated at a little; the strong mind bears it like a rock that doesn’t move though a thousand breakers dash upon it and cast their pitiful malice in spray upon its summit.

God marks His enemies, and yet He bestirs not Himself but holds in His anger. If He were less divine than He is, He would long have since sent forth the whole of His thunders and emptied the cannons of heaven; He would have long ago blasted the earth with the wondrous fires of its lower regions, and man would have been utterly destroyed.

But the greatness of His power brings us mercy. Dear reader, what is your condition this evening? Can you by humble faith look to Jesus and say, “My substitute, You are my rock, my trust”? Then, beloved, do not be afraid of God’s power; for if by faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you than the shield and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom he loves. Rather rejoice that He who is “great in power” is your Father and Friend.

The family reading plan for February 22, 2012

Job 22 | 1 Corinthians 9

A True Servant
John 13:1-15 

Do you equate success with wealth, acclaim, and power? If we measured by these standards, then Jesus, who was rejected by His community and didn’t even have a house of His own, was a failure. But, of course, we know that’s not the case. So God must use something other than these worldly goals to define success. In fact, Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ is our example–we should strive to be like Him.

So, what exactly was our Savior’s mission? In today’s passage, we see the answer through His actions: He came to serve. The disciples, wanting recognition and reward, were arguing about who’d be the greatest in heaven. In contrast, Jesus took off His outer garment and performed the task of the lowliest servant: He washed the dirty feet of His followers. The next day, Almighty God was crucified by His own creation. In allowing this, He offered salvation to all–even those who nailed Him to a cross.

Jesus deserved glory but chose sacrifice and pain. And He asks that we follow His example of service. With the exception of Judas, His disciples obeyed. In fact, they all faced great difficulty and most died brutal deaths because of their faith. But they willingly walked the path of humility because of what Jesus had taught them: “The last shall be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:16).

How do you spend your resources and time? And which topics dominate your thoughts and conversation? These are a few indicators of the driving goals in your life. You may long for worldly recognition, but God has a higher calling for His children. Ask Him to foster a servant’s attitude in your heart

The Leverage of Prayer  –   Do you understand what you are reading?

Acts 8:30

We would be more able teachers, and not so easily carried away by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy Spirit, the Author of the Scriptures, is the only one who can enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly ask His help to lead us into truth. When the prophet Daniel was called upon to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, what did he do? He set himself to earnest prayer that God would open up the vision.

The apostle John, in his vision at Patmos, saw a book sealed with seven seals that none was found worthy to open or so much as to look upon. The book was afterward opened by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to open it; but it is written first, “I wept much.” The tears of John, which were his liquid prayers, were, so far as he was concerned, the sacred keys by which the folded book was opened.

Therefore, if, for your own and others’ profiting, you desire to be “filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,”1 remember that prayer is your best means of study.

Like Daniel, you shall understand the dream and its interpretation when you have sought it from God; and like John you shall see the seven seals of precious truth unloosed after you have wept much.

Stones are not broken except by a constant, diligent use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of prayer be exercised, and there is not a stony doctrine in revelation that is useful for you to understand that will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer. Thoughts and reasoning are like the steel wedges that give a hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever that pries open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure hidden inside.

1 Colossians 1:9

The family reading plan for February 21, 2012

Job 21 | 1 Corinthians 8

The Foundation of Our Security
Romans 8:31-39 

Persecution exists everywhere. You can undergo harassment or mistreatment for your faith without moving to a foreign land where God is openly despised. While such abuse may damage our livelihood, alienate friends, or even take our life, it should not devastate our faith–that kind of harm happens only when believers are gripping things they’d rather not surrender.

What can be taken from someone who owns nothing? If he acknowledges God as the owner of all his possessions, then he can’t ever suffer loss.

What servitude can be forced on one who already does the will of Another? He who chooses a life of humility cannot be humiliated for doing what is right.

How might a dead man be killed? Only one thing can be taken from a person who has been crucified to this world and its allurements: his physical life. And he will freely exchange that for the eternal reward of heaven.

If believers are caught up in what’s around them, persecution can damage their faith. But when people yield everything in their lives to Jesus Christ and acknowledge His total control, they don’t worry about what is in His hands. They trust that God will see them through both the blessings and hardships that comes their way (Ps. 23).

Nothing we own on earth can go through the gates of heaven with us. Therefore, the best place to stack our earthly treasure is on the altar. Surrender yourself and your possessions. Draw close to the all-sufficient Father, who will comfort you and guide you through persecution

Guard Against Temptation   –   Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1

A holy character does not prevent temptation–Jesus was tempted. When Satan tempts us, his sparks fall upon tinder; but in Christ’s case, it was like striking sparks on water; yet the enemy continued his evil work. Now, if the devil goes on striking when there is no result, how much more will he do it when he knows what inflammable stuff our hearts are made of. Though you become greatly sanctified by the Holy Spirit, expect that the great dog of hell will bark at you still. In the haunts of men we expect to be tempted, but even seclusion will not guard us from the same trial.

Jesus Christ was led away from human society into the wilderness and was tempted by the devil. Solitude has its charms and its benefits and may be useful in checking the lust of the eye and the pride of life; but the devil will follow us into the most lovely retreats. Do not suppose that it is only the worldly-minded who have dreadful thoughts and blasphemous temptations, for even spiritually minded persons endure the same; and in the holiest position we may suffer the darkest temptation.

The utmost consecration of spirit will not insure you against satanic temptation. Christ was consecrated through and through. It was His meat and drink to do the will of Him that sent Him–and yet He was tempted! Your hearts may glow with an angelic flame of love for Jesus, and yet the devil will try to bring you down to lukewarm uselessness. If you will tell me when God permits a Christian to lay aside his armor, I will tell you when Satan has left off temptation.

Like the old knights in wartime, we must sleep with helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the arch-deceiver will seize our first unguarded moment to make us his prey. May the Lord keep us watchful in all seasons and grant us a final escape from the jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear.

The family reading plan for February 20, 2012

Job 20 | 1 Corinthians 7

Our Calling in Troubled Times
2 Corinthians 4:6-18 

In difficult times, the world taps into our fears and sells us a false message: Look out for number one. The more tumultuous life becomes, the easier it is to be self-centered. We focus on things the world tells us we should worry about, and our thoughts are consumed with me, myself, and I–my opinions, what I feel, and what the uncertain future means for me. But God wants us to get our minds off ourselves and to focus on what He has in mind for our lives.

So how should we respond to days of turmoil? First, we who know Christ are called to take hold of courage and confidence that He is sufficient, no matter what happens. Second, the Bible says that we’re the light of the world and are called to live out the life-transforming message within us. Think about how the early church responded to those turbulent times. Did they recoil into their small congregations? No. They went forward boldly–even willing to lose their lives–because they knew the greatness of God’s gift to them and wanted to share it with the world.

God doesn’t want His children to focus on themselves in times of crisis or instability. Rather, He calls us to take hold of the opportunity to bring His hope to those searching for what really matters.

Are you living for yourself or for God? He didn’t put us here to retreat in fear from the world. Instead, He entrusted us with a mission: to make a difference in people’s lives through His Spirit. When we lose our self-centeredness, others will be drawn to His love, joy, and peace in us

Confess Your Sins to God   –   Father, I have sinned.

Luke 15:18

It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in His precious blood need not make a confession of sin as culprits or criminals before God the Judge, because Christ has forever taken away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer stand where they can be condemned, but are once and for all accepted in the Beloved.

But having become children, and offending as children, should they not every day go before their heavenly Father and confess their sin and acknowledge their iniquity in that character? Nature teaches that it is the duty of erring children to make a confession to their earthly father, and the grace of God in the heart teaches us that we, as Christians, owe the same duty to our heavenly Father. We daily offend and ought not to rest without daily pardon. Suppose that my trespasses against my Father are not at once taken to Him to be washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus–what will be the consequence? If I have not sought forgiveness and been washed from these offenses against my Father, I shall feel at a distance from Him; I shall doubt His love for me; I shall tremble before Him; I shall be afraid to pray to Him: I shall grow like the prodigal who, although still a child, was yet far away from his father. But if with a child’s sorrow at offending so gracious and loving a Parent, I go to Him and tell Him everything, and do not rest until I realize that I am forgiven, then I shall feel a holy love to my Father and shall go through my Christian career not only as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus Christ my Lord.

There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit and confessing sin as a child. The Father’s bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.

The family reading plan for February 18, 2012

Job 18 | 1 Corinthians 5

Living in Freedom
Romans 6:1-14 

When Eve accepted Satan’s offer of greater independence from God, do you think she experienced more freedom? The answer is obvious. She, Adam, and the entire human race became enslaved to sin from that point onward. What looked like a great deal in the garden ended in deadly bondage.

Although Christ has set believers free from slavery to sin, we, like Eve, oftentimes long for the “freedom” to do what we want. But whenever we give in to sinful desires, we’re behaving like slaves instead of living as free children of God. He’s given us His Holy Spirit, who empowers us to say no to sin, if we’ll just yield to His leadership.

The consequences of reverting to our old ways are devastating. We’ll sink deeper into bondage to sin, lose the peace and joy of fellowship with Christ, grieve the Holy Spirit, and find ourselves under the disciplining hand of the Father. In fact, we can actually become a hindrance to God’s kingdom work. Whenever we fall into the hypocrisy of living like the world, we ruin our testimony. Your unsaved friends, relatives, and co-workers are watching you. If they see no difference between you and themselves, why would they want your Savior? They can’t see any benefit to having a relationship with Him.

If Satan whispers in your ear that God’s limitations are depriving you of something good, remember what happened to Eve. Liberty to do whatever we want is slavery to self and sin. Only when we live within the Father’s protective boundaries can we experience the freedom Christ purchased for us