In the past several entries, we studied who our King is. Now I want to discuss who we are because He is our King.
A while ago, I was relating to a couple of friends that Father’s Day is kind of hard for me. You see, my parents are both God fearing Christians, and apparently many people assumed I had an ideal upbringing. I even had someone say to me, “but the Christian life is easy for you, you grew up in a wonderful Christian home.”
My parents pointed me to the Lord from the time I was born, and I was in church every time the door was open. I had grandparents and great grandparents who also loved Jesus. However, in my youth, my father was plagued in ways, that I now know that were his human, imperfect and insecure ways of trying to prove his worth. I struggled with feeling like a disappointment and lived in fear of upsetting the precarious apple cart at any given moment. Wonderful and easy would not be the words I use to describe my youth. But the Lord used all of it to redeem and refine me.
So, my sweet friend asked me how I turned out so wonderful, her words not mine. I laughed at the overstatement and then took a deep breath and thought “How indeed?” Having godly people in my life really helped; going to church was good, Christian education didn’t ruin me.
But the truth of who I am, is this; when I was five years old, God became my daddy. He wrapped His gentle arms of protection around me and told me that I was special and loved. He guided me from the first moment I asked him to be my Abba. He spoke to me in a still small voice reminding me of who I am in Him.
His child
His redeemed
The one He died for
The one he strengthens
The one he feeds
The one he wants to spend time with
The one who he gives confidence to
The one he set aside for a purpose
His ROYAL heir.
Later, I was lamenting about how I never felt like I could do enough to please my dad. If I got a B, why wasn’t it an A? If I tried out for a sports team, why wasn’t I good enough to make it?
In that same breath, it hit me like a ton of bricks; I realized that all my life I had been seeking to please the wrong Daddy. There is only one I need to please, that is my Heavenly Father. There is only one relationship that will satisfy that deep longing in my heart, the relationship with my Savior.
If I really know my Abba Father, it becomes hard not to trust him with my deepest thoughts, desires, needs and emotions. The more I grow to know Him, the more confident I become in who I am.
Like David said in Psalms 71:5 , You have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.
And the author of Hebrews encourages us with this in Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
If God is not already your Father, I invite you to change this today. If you struggle to feel loved and accepted, know that you can go with confidence to the throne of grace where you will be loved and accepted unconditionally.
A side note: My dad is 82 years old now and the Lord is using this time in his life to rebuild our relationship into a sweet friendship.
Over the next few weeks, we will explore who we are because we are children of the king.
Oh, My Lord, You are so Kind.
Soul Water 