Philippians 2:22
“But you know of his proven character, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.”
I’m going to address that last phrase in a slightly different way. “Like a child serving his father”, Paul is talking about his relationship with Timothy. I want to talk about our relationship to the Father.
My father died when I was two. There was no relationship that I can recall. I had a yearning for him most of my years. I had a photograph of him when he was 17. I tried to emulate that to satisfy that yearning. My mom got remarried when I was 8 and I gained a stepfather. When He came back to Ohio to propose, I hid in a tree across the street to view him. I don’t recall him, but my siblings said he had orange shoes.
My stepfather was harsh and disapproving. I was quiet and felt lost at school most of the time, so I felt less than. I came to Christ at 17, 18. I transferred my feeling of unworthiness from my step father to God.
I learned about grace at 24 years of age. I learned that He wasn’t disapproving. I felt at the perimeter of God with my head down. In time I felt the warmth of His love, I could lift my head and draw nigh.
One of my favorite verses is Romans 8:15,16, ‘For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.’ We haven’t received a spirit of fear, but one of adoption. We cry out Abba! Father. I feel that. I have a Father. The greatest and best. He’s always with us. His Spirit is always testifying with our spirits that we are children of God.
I no longer carry around with me the disapproval of my step father. It’s been replaced with a new Father. For years I was under condemnation. I read I Timothy 3:6 yesterday and reminded that condemnation comes from the devil. He used my bad experiences and transferred those feelings to God. I bought that lie. That condemnation is gone. It’s been replaced with the warmth of His presence. I have a heavenly Father.
Ephesians 2:10 is our new reality, “For we are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” He is not only giving His approval through Christ, but He is working a masterpiece in us. A slow chipping of the stone to make a statue.
Thank You, Father.