Our Father which art in heaven…
—Luke 11:2
How simple, how beautiful, is this invocation that Christ puts on our lips! And yet how inconceivably rich is its meaning, in the fullness of the love and blessing it contains!
Just think of the book that could be written of all the memories that there have been on earth of wise and loving fathers. Just think of what this world owes to the fathers who have made their children strong and happy to give their lives for the welfare of their fellowmen. Then think how all this is only a shadow of exquisite beauty, and only a shadow of what the Father in heaven is to His children on earth.
Christ bestowed a great gift on us when He gave us the right to say “Father” to the God of the universe. We have the privilege of calling upon Him as “The Father of Christ,” “Our Father,” and “My Father.”
We call Him “our Father which art in heaven,” our heavenly Father. We consider it a great privilege as we bow in worship to know that the Father comes near to us where we are upon earth. But we soon begin to feel the need to rise up to enter into His holy presence in heaven, to breathe its atmosphere, to drink in its spirit, and to become truly heavenly minded. And as our thoughts leave earth behind, and in the power of the Holy Spirit we enter the Holiest of All, where the seraphim worship, the words heavenly Father take on a new meaning, and our hearts come under an influence that can abide all day long.
As we then gather up our thoughts of what fatherhood on earth has meant, and as we hear the voice of Christ saying, “How much more” (Luke 11:13), we feel the distance between the earthly picture and the heavenly reality. And we can only bow in lowly, loving adoration, saying, “Father, our Father, my Father.” Only in this way can full joy and power come to us as we rest rejoicingly in this Scripture: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (verse 13).
Oh, for grace to cultivate a heavenly spirit, to prove daily that we are children who have a Father in heaven and who love to dwell in His holy presence every day!