What I’ve learnt about fathers and sons

George and Barbara Bush with their first born child George W. Bush, while Bush was a student at Yale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My son’s coming up to four months old, and parenthood’s teaching me quite a lot. Expect more posts to appear over time, but I thought I ought to start somewhere.

Fatherhood’s definitely different to what I thought it would be – it’s nowhere near as complicated (actually, right now, it’s pretty straightforward) but it’s way harder.

One particular thing that struck me immediately as different was the fact that I didn’t cry when he was born. Having talked to lots of dads, and having watched One Born Every Minute, I was convinced that I’d be a babbling wreck when he arrived. As it turned out I was far too tired to respond like that, and thank goodness I’d watched One Born because having a purple son would have freaked me out otherwise.

In fact, the whole concept of immediately feeling overwhelming love towards my son had almost set the bar so high that I was never going to experience it. Where people have said before that your feelings for your kids teach you about God’s heart for you has turned out to be a bit of a let-down so far if I’m honest. When he’s older and sets fire to my car in anger and I still forgive him, maybe then I’ll get it a bit better.

But something struck me that I never knew would.

The Father was willing to sacrifice his son for me.

I think perhaps I’m learning after all.

Which son am I?

Español: Regreso del hijo pródigo, Louvre (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m sure most readers of this blog are familiar with the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In case you’re not familiar with it (or to briefly remind those who are) here is Jesus’ story from Luke 15:

There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’

Here’s the contrast between the sons:

Son 1, the younger son, was separated from his father because of his own pride, selfish ambition, and disrespect. Pretty much anyone in the world could tell you he’d been a bad boy, and the results of his actions show karma at work – who wants to long for pig food?

Son 2, in contrast, had always been a good boy. He’d served his father, he’d been obedient, and yet he’s the one who at the end is separated from his father. Wow.

It doesn’t make sense, does it?! The bad guy gets a party in his honour while the good guy sits outside in the darkness on his own? But it does when you realise that this story isn’t really a story about ‘the prodigal son’, it’s about the father! The father goes out to meet both sons; he runs out and hugs his repentant Son 1, and leaves the party to entreat Son 2…do you see that the distinguishing factor here isn’t their works, it’s their response to their Dad?

An atheist I was chatting to recently said that she didn’t believe in God because there are so many different versions of God (Muslim, Jew, etc) that they must all be wrong. Ridiculous logic, but there you go. But she is wrong. There are not different versions of God, there is one true God and a whole bunch of false gods (one of which is the false god of atheism – discuss).  The question really is: how do you tell which god is the real one?

I’ll tell you which one: the God who guarantees your eternal destiny right now by grace through your faith in the completed work of his Son’s life, death, resurrection and ascension. Anyone trusting in some form of their own good works is excluding themselves from the party!

Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
(Psalm 2:12)

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron

This is the story of Ian Morgan Cron’s life, with a particular focus on his experience of Jesus, and his relationship with his father which was rocky to say the least, and which involved his job at the CIA. This book does exactly what it says on the tin.

I enjoyed Cron’s storytelling in his interesting biography (of sorts) of Saint Francis, so hoped this book would meet my high expectations – it absolutely did. I found myself laughing out loud as he told stories of himself as a young child, intrigued by his father’s jobs and past, blinking back tears as some of he told of some of the really tough times, and thoroughly encouraged by the grace of God throughout.

When you have endorsements from everyone from the Archibishop of Canterbury to Brian McLaren and Craig Groeschel you can be certain that there will be bits that are theologicallycomfortable and uncomfortable to any reader, but Cron’s experience, humility and love for God shine through, even if I found myself raising an eyebrow or two at certain occasions. Groeschel claimed that ‘Each turn of the page will draw you closer to God.’ I’m not sure I quite found that to be the case, but the book as a whole is wonderful, and the revelation of God through Cron’s life is clear.

I’d recommend this book to everyone really – the storytelling is great and compelling, the story is heart-wrenching and funny, and God’s grace is wonderfully revealed. Five stars from me!

I got this book for free from BookSneeze.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.

Pride and prayer

‘It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.’

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Where are we on the prayer regularity scale? How will we move further up? Surely conversation with our perfect Father ought to be higher on our list of priorities. It certainly should be on mine.

The Father’s omnipresence

I was chatting to a friend a couple of days ago and we stumbled across something we didn’t really know the answer to…perhaps you might be able to help?

I understand that God is omnipresent, but are all three persons in the Trinity omnipresent? When the Son was present on this earth as a man, surely he was not omnipresent, so I don’t think there’s a problem with the question…the real issue is whether the Father himself is actually omnipresent, or whether he is omnipresent by the Spirit.

What does that even mean?

And how does Jesus Christ continue to sustain the universe (Hebrews 1:3) if he’s not omnipresent?

Hm.

Sin

A commenter on this blog asked a bit ago for a definition of sin, and I don’t think I gave a very good answer.

Yesterday someone told me a definition of sin – I think he did a good job and wanted to share it here:

Sin is rebellion against God.

I know, a bit simple, but think it through. God is described incessantly as our Father – perhaps the worst thing a father or mother could ever experience would be their own son or daughter saying ‘I don’t care what you think, I can live my life without you,’ and turning their back on them – it would break their heart.

In fact, would it not be even worse for a son or daughter to tell all their friends that they deny even the existence of their Dad? Or simply saying ‘Dad is dead’?

It’s no wonder sin is described in such horrific terms in the Bible.

And it’s mind-blowing that God would still offer free reconciliation and forgiveness after what we’ve all done to him.