Romans 8:12-17: Finding a New Father
- Lance Lefler
- Mar 13, 2011
- Series: the Gospel
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I had an ant farm when I was a kid. I made it myself. I took at giant pickle jar, filled it with dirt, scooped up a bunch of ants from an anthill (I lived in the desert, so they were easy to find), screwed the lid on and waited to see what they'd do.
Like diligent little ants they went to work digging. After a few hours the tunnels began to appear along the edges of the jar, deeper and deeper down. After a few days the jar had acquired the classic ant farm look, with tunnels running everywhere. It was fascinating to watch them.
At first.
But after a while I got bored. I stopped watching them.
I don't know what I did with the ant farm. I probably dumped the whole operation in the desert somewhere.
It's easy to think that God treats us like his giant ant farm. We're interesting at first, then he stops paying attention, then he discards us and can't remember what he did with us.
This feeling may be intensified if you had no father, or an abusive father. You will be tempted to transfer your experience with your earthly father to your heavenly Father and figure that God is just like your dad was. Of if you didn't have a dad, then you wonder how to even conceive of a father's love.
Whatever the case, God has chosen to communicate himself to us as our Father. And whatever our earthly dad lacked, God makes up for. He is perfect, caring, loving, interested. In fact, this section of Romans 8 contains one of the most important verses for assuring believers they are believers.
This message should encourage, comfort and inspire you to rest in God's fatherly care.