Our Heavenly Father

https://odb.org/2023/11/05/welcome-home-3

I lost my father about one and a half years ago, just a couple of weeks shy of his 80th birthday. My mum passed on 14 years ago. I miss both of them very much, and I am technically now an orphan, having no parent still alive on earth.

Of course, an orphan is really someone who grew up without their parents and thus had to figure out how to live life on their own, whether in their faith, their studies, or relationships. That is why some mentors can become father figures to “orphans” – including those who grew up with “absent” parents – fathers, and mothers who were too busy with their careers or those from single parent families. You may read about my father in the following article: https://ronnielim.com/2022/03/21/obituary-mr-michael-lim-5-may-1942-19-march-2022/.

As my parents were both in the faith when they passed on, I have the assurance in Christ that if I remained in the faith, I would see them one day on the day of resurrection, the day when the dead in Christ will rise up to meet Him in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). One day, we will all live together again with Christ and our Heavenly Father in the new heaven and new earth as per Revelation 21.

Besides real-life father figures and spiritual fathers, as believers, we have an added advantage of having a Heavenly Father. The God that we worship and relate to is also our Father in heaven. He is the Almighty God, the Great I Am, and yet He is also our Father through Christ Jesus. We may call upon Him, and we are His people, and He is our God because of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Saviour. In fact, Jesus had gone ahead of us to prepare for us a place at His Father’s mansion, which is now also our Father’s mansion. In Christ, we have an inheritance in haeven, a place where we can store our riches while still on earth, a place where our treasures will not be destroyed by rust or moth and the thief cannot steal. A spiritual vault to keep our things for eternity. See Matthew 6:19-21.

The message today I believe is that God is saying to us that He is our Heavenly Father and will take the place of our earthly father. He will be the father we never had. He will be our father figure and mentor and help us through our life here on earth. Reach out to Him and speak to Him. He will guide and teach us and protect us even as we live in the shadow of His wings!

Blessed Sunday and have a good worship service today worshipping God, our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit!