Apostle's Creed Series

Part 2 ~ Based on The Apostle's Creed

As noted in the 8-17-06 devotional (http://www.cfdevotionals.org/), for the next several months on Thursdays, we will explore the Apostles' Creed, to see where in the Bible the concepts originated. I would like to thank everyone for all the feedback so far on this series!

"I believe in God the Father."

Such seemingly simple words - and yet so profound. I think a glance through Scripture will show that it's pretty clear where this part of the creed originated. The Bible is replete with references to God as Father and us as His children. So we will think about how this applies to us in practical terms. All Scriptures are from the New International Version.

Some of us have been blessed with wonderful Earthly fathers, while some of us have experienced the pain of living with an abusive or neglectful father. But for anyone who believes in Christ as his / her Savior, there is the assurance that we have a loving "Daddy" (the literal translation of Abba) who will never fail us. Friends and family will let us down, but God never will.

1 John 3:1a How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

So we know that (1) being God's children makes us the beneficents of His lavish love.

Check out the wording of the above verse - lavish. This is not a begrudging love, an obligatory love or a limited love; it's a generous and overwhelming love. God's love far surpasses anything we can experience with even the most devoted Earthly dad. It's a love that's so lavish, that He provided for our salvation through the suffering of His own beloved Jesus – his only "natural-born" Son (born through the Holy Spirit).

In addition, we know that (2) because God loves us enough to provide for us to be His children through Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us, we have direct access to God. We don't have to go through a secretary, a human priest or pastor, or "holier" Christian. We can pray to God ourselves.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Whether we want to praise God, intercede for someone else or make supplication for ourselves – we can talk directly and immediately to God. If we have a problem at work or in our homes, or want to lift up a friend who is struggling - wherever we are and whatever time of day it is - we can access our relationship to God via prayer.

Next week, we will continue to explore what being a child of God means for our everyday lives.

Comments or Questions,
Jan

cfdevjan@aol.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org