The Creed is
quite sparse in its comments on the Father. This is all it says:
I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
Though
sparse, it is quite helpful. Of all the things that the Creed could have
focused on when it comes to the Father, it zeros in on His power. He's almighty.
The existence of heaven and earth which He created is the proof.
So, how is
this helpful? Well, think about it. Who am I talking about? I'm talking about
the Father. But He's not just the Father. He's my Father. And because
He is my Father, He loves me. He loves me as someone who is almighty. And that
means that there is nothing that can thwart Him when it comes to loving me. Nothing. That is a tremendously powerful basis for hope.
It's here
that there will be those who will reply something like, 'But it doesn't feel
like I'm being loved. Actually, there are times when it feels like His love
actually is being thwarted. There are times when life hurts - a lot. So,
where's this almighty love.'
This is where
it's good to remember some things that Jesus and His apostles taught us. He (and
they) told us that being one of His disciples was going to hurt. We were warned.
Suffering is part of being a Christian. So, does that undo all that I said
about how nothing can thwart the love of the almighty Father? Absolutely not. Our suffering is not some impossibly strong
wall that the Father's love can't get past. Quite the
opposite. Our suffering is an expression of His love. And that will make
sense as long as you understand that love is all about bringing about good for
the beloved. Sometimes making that happen will hurt.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but
later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it. Hebrews 12
The Father
wants us to thoroughly enjoy 'the peaceful fruit of righteousness'. And
sometimes the route to that experience that includes painful discipline. There
are times when that discipline might be about correcting us. But there are also
times when we've done nothing wrong, but the Father wants us to learn some
important lesson. Sometimes we learn these lessons through His loving (yes,
loving!) discipline.
So, even the
hard parts of life do not thwart the love of the Father for us. They are,
rather, means by which we will be able to experience more of that fatherly care.
So, in those
times that I'm struggling with my loneliness or some other problem, I find
myself praying, 'I still trust You'. That comes from
my being convinced that the Father loves me and there is nothing that can
thwart His love. Nothing. And being convinced of that
has proven to be the difference for me.
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