How do you picture God? Maybe you picture Him as an old man, sitting on a throne up in the clouds somewhere. Or maybe you picture some kind of enormous cosmic vortex. No matter what comes to mind, there are a couple things we need to realize. One, God the Father is spirit. He doesn’t have a
physical body like you or me or Jesus (who is God the Son). Two, God’s attributes (His qualities and characteristics)
are much more important than anything we may imagine Him to look like.
So what are some of God’s attributes? First off, God is our King. As today’s Bible reading says, God is King of the whole earth and is seated on His holy throne. God created the heavens and the earth, and therefore He is Lord over all. Because God is almighty, holy, and righteous, it is right for us to think of Him and approach Him with all the honor and reverence He deserves.
However, God is also our Father—and this sets Christianity apart from most other religions. God loves us so much more than we will ever know, so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for our sins. Psalm 103:13 says, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.†God is infinitely loving, compassionate, and merciful. If we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus, believing that His sacrifice on the cross is enough, we can, as the writer of Hebrews put it, “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need†(Hebrews 4:16). • Chandler Sims
• Do you tend to think of God more as a father or more as a king? Is one more difficult for you to accept or understand than the other?
• Why is it important that we think of God both as our Father and as the King?
• In what ways does God reveal himself as a king? As a father?
• Are there any human fathers in your life who show you what God is like (Matthew 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13)? How might you honor and encourage the fathers in your life?
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5 (NIV)
Read Verses:
Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 22:17-20; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; 1 John 3:16-18
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