“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.’” (Matthew 6:9, NASB)
I find it amusing when I caddie for my father, Larry Nelson, in a PGA Tour Champions pro-am how many of the amateurs will say something to me during or after the round like, “Your dad seems like such a normal guy.” They are, of course, meaning this as a compliment to his character qualities, but I do find it interesting how many people feel differently about players that they have watched for years from a distance once they get to know them personally. Often they become fans.
We all have our own connotations for words. Connotations are “the ideas or feelings that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning” (Google Dictionary). What we think about when we think about something determines how we feel about it. Connotations play a huge role in the way we see and experience the world. This of course goes well beyond people, places, and things; it also applies to God.
Most of us use the word God to refer to the supernatural creator of the universe, but what connotations are behind the word when you utter it? What do you think about when you think about God?
If what you think about God is at all disappointing to you, then what you think about God isn’t right.Here’s a similar question: What is your God filter? Some people see God as a referee watching and waiting to blow his whistle and call a foul on us to make us feel guilty in our failures. Some people see God more like Alexa (the voice behind Amazon’s service technologies), just waiting around for us to ask him to do something. Some people see God as ancient and out of touch, distant and mysterious. Or maybe you are growing cynical of this invisible being, so you sometimes wonder if he’s just a made-up fantasy.
No matter your connotation, what you feel when you think about God determines the type of relationship you have with God. You might even hear friends, family members, and pastors talk about God and think in frustration, “I’m not feeling what you’re feeling or seeing what you’re seeing!” If that is the case, maybe the problem is not God, but rather it is your God filter. If what you think about God is at all disappointing to you, then what you think about God isn’t right.
Getting a proper perspective of God is necessary for a healthy God filter and to growing in intimacy with him. This does not happen instantly, it needs to be experiential, and if you are not in awe of him, keep working on it. Pray about it. Tell him you want to know him personally.
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he started with today’s verse, teaching us to call him Father. As a believer, there are three important truths we should know about God:
1) He loves you unconditionally, even more than your earthly father loves you and you love your children (Luke 11:9-13).
2) God is always with you. He will never leave your nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).
3) God is for you, always working things out on your behalf for your good (Romans 8:28).
My prayer is that you will see God in the same way as Jesus and the apostle Paul. “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:6-7). Abba is a very comfortable, deeply intimate childlike term, interpreted as either papa or daddy. If you do not know God as Daddy, then I hope you’ll rethink what you think about when you think about God and gain a proper God filter.
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Josh Nelson
October 15, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.