Father Knows Best

Colossians1:15-23

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201%3A15-23&version=NIV;NLT

 

In the 50’s there was a popular TV series called, “Father Knows Best”. It was about an idealized family where the Father, as the title indicates, would always have good advice for his three children. In fact, he was the one that the family would look to for leadership, stability and wisdom.

 

That was how I looked at my own Father. I put him on a pedestal as if he were perfect. In fact, in my eyes, he could do no wrong. When he spoke, I listened. It doesn’t mean I always obeyed, but I certainly considered his word the truth.

 

The Colossian believers were struggling with who Jesus was. False teachers were leading them astray. They were making Jesus into something less than who he really was. So Paul wrote this about him.

 

¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation ¹⁶ for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.        NLT

When I read this passage in Colossians with my Dad in mind, it could be describing him from my childhood perspective. However, as the years passed I came to realize that my Dad wasn’t perfect; he was only human, with human weaknesses.

 

In reality, we all desire someone or something to fill this role of perfection in our life. Someone to believe in who is larger than life; someone to believe in who is god-like in our eyes; someone to believe in that loves us unconditionally.

 

¹⁹ For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ… ²² now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.  NLT

 

Thankfully, even though Jesus was fully human, he was perfect. Because of this, we know that he loves us unconditionally; is always with us; will never forsake us. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is bigger than life and more than worthy of our love, our trust and our worship.

 

Indeed, it is our Heavenly Father that knows best. Let us come into his presence holy and blameless.

 

 

 

Just Like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

We are conditioned to be self-absorbed; to focus our life-lens on self. The word on the street, the general consensus is, it is all about me. Television commercials reinforce our importance every time their product is introduced. The advertisements shout, "you deserve a break today." We come to believe that we cannot exist without a ...(fill in the blank).

This is nothing new, but as we become more and more sophisticated, so does the concept of our own needs while they blossom into huge egos. Lost are the days of taking care of one another; of looking out for each other at the expense of ourselves. We easily forget just how much we need one another, how much we need the companionship and fellowship of others.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

I am happy to share that my neighborhood is like one from the days of Father Knows Best, or Leave it to Beaver.  If you were raised in the 50's you understand what I mean. Those were the days when many lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other.  As I get older and dare I say, wiser, this is important to me, an attraction even. My neighbors go through life caring for each other; being attentive to a possible need.

We are designed to be in community. That is why God created Adam and  Eve. We are created to be in communion with God, and also with one another. This will play out in peaceful co-existence when we genuinely live with love for each other in our hearts.

1 Corinthians 1:7,18-23