Who Art in Heaven

As we continue the Lord’s prayer, the next part is about the Father who art in Heaven.

The first portion to look at is “Who Art”. This should all stop us in our tracks as we ponder it. When we make a statement like “God exists,” reality is totally altered. Imagine what it would mean to your worldview if there was no God?

How much would it mean? If your worldview has very little change in it, then you think very little of God? If your worldview is changed drastically, then you think very much of God. A question like that can get us to see how much we think of God.

Is your source of morality to be found in God? Is your source of truth God? Is your source of all that is good and just God? Is God the reason you get up everyday? Is God the reason you enjoy your life?

And let’s remember the who part of this. We are dealing with a person. (In Christianity, God is actually tri-personal.) This is not some it out there. This is not a pantheistic notion. This is a theistic notion. God has personality. He is even described as the father from whom all fatherhood comes.

What is meant is that it is not proper to say “I’m a father and have a son and that’s kind of like what the Father and Jesus are.” Instead, we should say the Father has the Son, and the way I am is meant to be like that. We mirror God. He does not mirror us. We reflect his image. He does not reflect ours.

And where is this God? In Heaven? Solomon said the very Heavens cannot contain us. God is not relative to Heaven though. Heaven is relative to God. We have a foretaste of Heaven on Earth because God is here, though he is not manifest here.

Why mention he’s in Heaven? Because God is with us, but God is also separate from us. God has watch over the whole cosmos. He is not a being limited by time and space. Time and space are subject to him as he is Lord of all.

However, this God who is out there is not wholly out there. He is the one who has revealed himself and fills the Earth as well. He has revealed himself in the Son most of all. Our lives should be changed entirely by the recognition that the deity chose to partake of the Earthly life. The incarnation is mind-blowing.

Again, if it isn’t to you, maybe you aren’t taking it seriously. Is today the time for you to take “Who art in Heaven” seriously?