A Portrait of God
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.” - (Luke 15:20)
I heard about a little girl who brought out a piece of paper and some crayons and was getting ready to draw something.
Her mom said, “Honey, what are you going to draw?”
“I am going to draw a picture of God.”
“Sweetheart, no one knows what God looks like.”
The little girl replied, “They will when I’m done.”
The only place we can get a proper portrait of God is in the pages of Scripture. Jesus effectively gave us a snapshot of God, telling us what God is like in the story of the prodigal son. In this story, God is like a father who loves his children. When we are sinning against Him or running from Him, He misses us and longs for our return. It is clearly a picture of a loving father.
But sometimes we may think of God in the same way we think of our earthly fathers. That can be problematic, because if you have a father who is aloof and distant, or worse, harsh and even abusive, you might apply that to God. Then again, if you have a father who is kind, approachable, and fun loving, you might transfer that to God also.
Here is the problem. God isn’t like your earthly father. God is God. He stands apart from everyone else. Regardless of how good or poor of a job your father on Earth may have done, you need to know that your heavenly Father is different.
He is a God of love. He is a God of mercy. He is a God of grace. But He is also a God of justice. He is a God of holiness. He is a God of righteousness. And the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament.
Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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