IMITATING THE HEAVENLY FATHER

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children” (Eph. 5:1 NKJV).

When God created us, He immediately invited us into relationship, first with Himself and then with one another. Relationships built on love, trust, and faithfulness were His idea. His plan also included children raised by fathers who reflect God. This is how children would learn of Him. Fathers, therefore, have a high calling and God has provided what they need to rise to this calling – He has provided Himself as the example.

Our Heavenly Father is a perfect example to honor, respect, and model our lives after. In the same way, children should be able to look up to and emulate the lives of their earthly fathers. Prov. 20:7 says, “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him!”

Our Heavenly Father desires relationship with us; relationship built on love. Like Him, earthly fathers are to love and build relationships with their children. Psalm 103:13 says, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.”

Our Heavenly Father instructs, directs, and leads us in the right way to live. Likewise, earthly fathers are to teach their children and oversee their education in right living. Prov. 1:8-9 reads, “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck.”

Our Heavenly Father sacrifices for us and provides for us. Thus, we are warned in 1 Tim. 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Our Heaven Father disciplines us, but He does it with patience and compassion. In the same way, He expects fathers to discipline but not irritate their children or be harsh. And so, fathers are cautioned in Eph. 6:4, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

(Adapted from christianity.com: What Does the Bible Say About Fathers?)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“God uses fathers to teach children about authority, provision, and protection, all reflections of His own character!”

Robert Lewis

American Pastor, Author, and Speaker

Word Study

Felt compassion

In Luke 10:33 we read, “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion” (NASB).

“Felt compassion” is the Greek word splanchnízomai (σπλαγχνίζομαι = splangkh-nid'-zom-ahee) and means to experience a deep-seated feeling for someone, to feel compassion for, to feel sympathy, to take pity on someone. Compassion is the sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to relieve or lessen it. In classical Greek splanchnízomai means to feel compassion. The “splanchna” are the internal organs of an animal or person, such as the heart, liver, or lungs. These “inner organs” were regarded by the ancient Greeks as the source of the emotions of anger and anxiety but also of pity and mercy. In the Septuagint, splanchnízomai spoke of mercy and pity. In the New Testament, splanchnízomai was used to mean the showing of compassion. It is interesting to note that of the twelve references to splanchnízomai in the New Testament, eight was used to describe this deep-seated emotion in the Lord Jesus. It therefore follows, that if we desire to imitate the Lord Jesus, we need to be men and women of deep compassion!

Did You Know…

Calling God by the title “Father” is not only found in the New Testament. The Old Testament also has references to God being known as “Father” (Isa. 63:16; cf. 64:8; Jer. 3:19; Mal. 1:6; 2:10).

Bible Quiz

My name is Methuselah, and my father was a devout man who walked with God. In the end he was translated to Heaven. Do you know the name of my righteous dad?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz

What prophet was instructed not to marry nor have children? Jeremiah (Jer. 16:1-4).

Prophecies Fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ

The Leper Cleansed – The Lord Jesus, Our High Priest (Lev. 14:11; Luke 5:12-14)

"Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting” (Lev. 14:11 NJKV).

In Context, we have the ritual cleansing of a leper by the priest and the sacrifice that was to be presented to effect the cleansing. The leper himself could not approach God, but that the priest approached God on his behalf. Further, the sacrifice died in his place, in his stead, on his behalf. This made the leper fully cleansed through the substitute sacrifice. Sin is also like leprosy and the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing carries overtones of that ultimate day when the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ who actually has the power to heal leprosy would appear, bringing salvation to people. By His sacrificial death on the cross, the Lord Jesus saves us from sin, heals us, cleanses us, and gives us eternal life.

Did You Know – Christian History

Victor Clough Rambo was born in 1894, in Landour, India. He was an American medical missionary and ophthalmologist who worked in India from 1924 to 1974 for the United Christian Missionary Society.

Raised in a strict Christian family, Rambo was taught to value the Bible and the teachings of Christianity. While living with the other families on the mission compound, he learned conversational Hindi from the native workers. Rambo attended Fairmount College, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1921. Dr. Victor Rambo could have made much money in the United States. Instead, he sailed for India on January 12, 1924.

Rambo became the medical director of the Christian Hospital Mungeli in 1925. Over time, Rambo noticed that blindness was a major problem in the region. Even though he was a surgeon, he who would become one of the most famous eye doctors in the world because of his treatment of India’s eye diseases, had never removed a cataract. It was not part of the medical course. But in India, where so many eyes needed care, Dr. Rambo soon learned. Rambo started performing cataract operations after successfully removing two cataracts from a patient’s eye. Under Rambo’s leadership, the hospital became well known for its work in restoring sight through the use of “eye camps,” surgical teams from the hospital that traveled to villages and performed eye surgeries, often cataract removal surgeries.

In 1947, Rambo began teaching part-time in the Ophthalmology Department at the Christian Medical College, located in Vellore. Over the course of the next ten years, he spent half of each year teaching and the other six months working in Mungeli. Rambo taught both undergraduate and graduate medical and nursing classes and encouraged students to watch and participate in his surgeries.

Many blind people have been blessed because Dr. Rambo sailed to India. His is one of a multitude of examples of the gospel bringing health for the body as well as hope for the soul. On May 23, 1987, Rambo died at the age of 92 in California, Kentucky.

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A Little Humor

Little Johnny asked his Sunday school teacher, “Why did the Israelites wander in the desert for 40 years?” She replied, “Because even back then, men wouldn’t ask for directions.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“To prevent ‘Sin-burn,’ use ‘Son-screen’ – God!”