The Posture of a Father - Part Two

"But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret...your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.  Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven..."     Matthew 6:6-9

Perhaps one of the most incomprehensible portions of scripture in the whole of the Bible.  Jesus teaching his disciples to pray to their heavenly Father.  For the believer in Jesus, the one who adheres to the Biblical-Christian worldview, this is the starting point for the answer to the existential struggles relative to fatherhood in the family dynamic.  Jesus spoke of His Father, and to those who believed in Him, He offered the same direction for address: heavenly Father.  One of the greatest gifts given to the believer is the gift of sonship.  A member in the family of God, adopted sons, heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ, with a heavenly Father that fulfills all the desired attributes so lacking here in this fallen condition.  There are many ways to address the answer to the struggle we face, but I was jolted a few days ago by experience into seeing the issue in terms of posture.

After some disobedience in the home I had to address my three boys from a position of authority and discipline.  Later, we read a story ("The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis) before bed.  It hit me like a punch in the face while reading that story and ending the day by praying over my boys and tucking them in the two opposite postures I had taken in the period of just a few short hours.  I stood over my sons and chided them, which at 6'-4" and with a fairly deep voice (at least for young boys) i'm sure conveyed the sense of authority in the home, the gravity of the message and the urgency required in capitulation.  I knelt with my sons to read and held their hands as always during prayer time and ended the day with a kiss, eye-to-eye and face-to-face which i'm sure conveyed the sense of love, care, protection and comfort needed for a restful night's sleep and assurance that the family was well in hand.  My mind flashed to the postures God the Father and our Lord (as He taught that He and the Father were one) took while on this earth which give a picture of the posture He takes with His children, and can provide some cogent and meaningful answers to dilemma present in the family life in our contemporary culture.

In the Old Testament, God revealed many postures toward humanity.  Even with extreme brevity we can think through interactions and see that God walks with His creation in the garden; He speaks to a stuttering murderer in the burning bush and on the mountain; He leads by way of a cloud during the day and fire at night; He stands in authority as He speaks of impending judgement through His prophets; He touches the very deepest emotions of the king who was said to be after His own heart; He allows terrible calamity over a man of purest character only to sustain and bless more richly after the period of suffering subsides; He eliminates those in defiance of His Holiness as the profane is paraded without shame.  All these postures and more God the Father makes apparent in His Word.  In the same way, with the coming of the Messiah and a New Covenant we see God the Son reflect the postures of the Father perfectly as He walks and talks with even the youngest and least of mankind; He kneels to be baptized by the one who came crying out in the wilderness; He stands in authority casting out demons, healing the sick, calming the stormy waters, forgiving sins, and raising the dead; He brings forth judgment as He charges through the temple driving out the cheats and swindlers; He takes the lowliest position of humble servant as He takes a towel and washes the feet of the men who called Him teacher; He hangs on the cross in suffering and death even for those who would encourage, demand and carry out such an act on an innocent man.

So it came flooding in, example after example of how our Heavenly Father illustrates in so many ways the postures of a Father.  Positions of authority, love, discipline, training, security, forgiveness, mercy all flowing from the perfect, holy and righteous father.  Contemporary society cries out for these attributes in those who would be fathers, but cannot find a justification for the behavior so much desired.  Personal choice in contradictory at its core and by definition cannot be applied to all who fill paternal roles.  Societal pressures, current trends and progressive attitudes again fall short of providing a platform of expectation for the traits we expect from fathers as those pressures, trends and attitudes are blown about by the wind.  In the same way, tradition is incapable in itself of bringing about a culture-wide basis for demanding certain attitudes.  Only God, an infinite, personal, creator God who has clearly illustrated in His own revelation and explicitly instructed fathers on how they should behave, which is an absolute requirement across the width and breadth of humanity can provide the non-contradictory framework to meet the expectations implicit in our very nature and answer the existential question of family and fatherhood.

As a father I have been challenged anew to look at the posture of God the Father and examine the postures I take daily with my wife and children.  I am also reminded of my inadequacy and the infinitesimal ability I possess in myself to even approach the majesty and glory of the true nature of the Father.  I am left to do what should be done in the beginning: go to my private room, shut the door and pray to the One who knows the things I need before I ask them in the way the Messiah taught..."My Father in heaven..."