God is a Father; Satan is a kidnapper and abuser

"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Gen 1: 27-28)

This morning I was thinking about the nature of how God interacts with us versus how Satan interacts with us.  God created us and loves us as a parent does a child.  He loves us deeply and has high hopes for us.  He sets rules on our behavior because he has wisdom that we do not, and until we develop that kind of wisdom through experience, he gives us commandments to keep us safe and healthy (individually and as a society) (Ex 20).  He encourages us ("You are fearfully and wonderfully made" Ps 139:14; "For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope" Jer 29:11), and wants to see us succeed.  He wants to have a relationship with us and sent his son to give us a path to forgiveness and salvation (John 3:16-17).  Ultimately it leads to relationship and familial closeness.

Satan on the other hand comes to us in the guise of freedom and novelty masquerading as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14-15).  He twists our thought processes to turn parental rules into seemingly binding regulations (Gen 3:1-5).  For his own personal ambition and power mongering he seeks to lead souls outside of God's protection and to worship of himself (Rev 13).  He encourages us to sin as he sinned in his own fall from grace (Ez 28:11-19), and he wants to turn us into ugly replicas of himself instead of the images of God that we are.

The contrast between God and Satan and their motivations have become clearer to me as I have kids of my own.  It's a strange thing to move from being focused on your own life alone, to giving of yourself to your children and their needs because they are so hopeless when they are born.  Children are a blank slate.  They move instinctually, but they have no real awareness of who and what they are.  They need to even discover their arms and legs and the motor skills to even roll over.

As a result, as they grow, parents strive to teach the child to understand their surroundings, giving them limited freedom and set rules commensurate with their ages to keep them safe.  When they misbehave, we discipline them out of love, not out of hate because we know that they need to have a sense of right and wrong in order to be successful people.

I would contrast human parentage with kidnappers who abduct children.  Most of these children are abused and them murdered.  Others are used as slaves for personal gain or sold into prostitution.  None of these kidnappers are committing their crime for the sake of the child.  There is no sacrifice or love in their motivations.  They are simply seeking their own gratification and power mongering attitude.

When I became a Christian and moved from the parentage of Satan to the parentage of God, I entered a household and became an adopted son (Romans 11:13-24).  I went from being lost and striving toward nothingness and despair to having a structure and having a loving parent.  I used to suffer bouts of deep loneliness and pits of emptiness in my soul, but since I received Christ and the Holy Spirit came to indwell within me, I have not had that feeling once.  Someone has always been there with me.

I honestly shudder to think of where my life was headed and where I was going, but now I stand on firm ground and have a surety and confidence within me that I didn't have before.

I need to remember this lesson because my parents were definitely well meaning and well intended, but they were absentee parents.  They were contented to ship me off to the television and have me play quietly in the corner while they weren't bothered.  I needed God badly because I needed His Fatherhood in my life.

Now, as a parent of two children, they'll need me to be like God the Father and not follow the template of my own parents.  Actually, I want them badly to have both - To know God first and foremost, but to also be directed to God by a loving parentage.

We often have preconceived notions about God based on our experiences with our own parents.  I used to think of him as somewhat distant and very angry about sin.  Sort of how I relate to my dad who ran our household more through intimidation than anything.  Although I do still think that God becomes angry about sin, I now realize that there is a tremendous overwhelming love as a parent first and foremost.  His anger is not at us, but at the sin itself.  His love for us drives Him to coax us out of a meaningless and deadly lifestyle into adoption into His family.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming for me even when I was in the depth of my despair.  You heard my soul calling out for meaning and desiring something more from life, and You came to show me Your love and healed my soul.  I pray for Your help in being a father and a husband, that I may take Your ways and live them out daily in my interactions with my family.  In Jesus' name, AMEN.