The Character of God - 2

This week we continued our series on God's character. Ask yourself this question...are my views of God biased because if my earthly father?

We looked at a clip from The Blind Side (which is one of my favorite movies...Sandra Bullock's character is my mom made over...and probably how I will be).

Our belief this week is that God is a Loving Father. We studied the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Prodigal means "wastefully extravagant" We look at the younger son in this way, but what if we looked at God in this way? "Wastefully extravagant" can be a good thing.

When we look at this story, are there times when in our lives when we have been like the younger son? Have you ever come to God and admitted you had a bad past, then try to work your way back to His love? Are there times when you look like the older son? You are following all of the rules, but you feel like God is holding out on you?

The father has compassion for both of his sons, just as God has compassion for all of us. We need to relate to the father, not just the sons.

Here are some ways that we should believe that God is a Loving Father:
1. The Father runs after His sons and daughters.
2. The Father restores the identity of His sons and daughters.
3. The Father celebrates his sons and daughters when we choose to be with him and he does it extravagantly (The Prodigal God).

So when I look at my relationship with my earthly father, I can't help but feel extremely blessed. He has fit the above description my whole life. My disconnect is that I haven't always seen God in that way, which is not fair to either. Now, I want to be thankful for my earthly father, but to see him as a reflection of God's love (even though God's love is even more abundant and something I won't fully understand while I am here.)