JESUS—OUR MODEL FOR SONSHIP
While it’s critical for our spiritual sanity to imagine Jesus as our joyful Savior and Friend, it’s just as important for us to understand the source of His joy. Jesus’ joy was derived from the warmth of His Father’s love and tender affections. Furthermore, it was the Father’s love that would sustain Him throughout His life.
A number of years ago I had the privilege of ministering for two weekends in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area. I had some time off between meetings, and so I retreated to a secluded place that had been provided for me where I could rest and reflect on some things I had been reading. I was specifically drawn to two passages in the Gospel of John. For several days I found myself visiting these verses again and again. It was as if I was on a pilgrimage and the Holy Spirit had prepared a place of solitude for me so He could speak to me about something that would change my life and the way I would approach life and ministry.
Every one of us came into the world wanting to feel special to someone. This human longing is something we all share. It is an innate desire that we have carried with us from birth. Yet many of us have grown up not knowing what it is to feel valued and treasured by even those closest to us. The dull ache of rejection and loneliness still haunts us as we try to carve out a niche for ourselves in the grand scheme of life.
If you have ever experienced the hard-nosed, hurtful, and sometimes even abusive actions of an authoritarian father, or any authoritarian figure for that matter, then you may still have difficulty opening your heart to your heavenly Father and resting in His love. But God is not an authoritarian Father! He doesn’t want you shrinking back in fear or apprehension of Him. He’s an approachable Father who loves you passionately.
Years ago I counseled a man who, as a little boy, was frequently beaten by his father. He told me that his dad would take him down to the basement and “discipline” him by repeatedly hitting him. This man went on to describe how his parents would also go dancing on the weekends, and because his dad didn’t want to pay for a babysitter, he would tie him to the stair rail and leave him there alone for hours until they returned home. Since then his father has become a follower of Christ and they have been reconciled, but some of the emotional scars remained for years. As a result, this man had a hard time relating to the love of his heavenly Father.
In 1996, Christopher Robin Milne died in England. You may recognize the name. His father was the famed children’s author A. A. Milne, who named the lead human character in his Winnie-the-Pooh books after his son.
