What do you imagine when you think of your ideal father? Whether you had the perfect father or whether you are the perfect father (or far from either), we certainly all have expectations of this role and how we’d like for it to look.
If I’m honest, I would want my ideal father figure to be filled with forgiveness. I make lots of mistakes, and I’ll assume you do too. If we accept that a father’s role is to help “grow up” his children, then we should expect that there will be plenty of messes along the way. It’s the reaction to these messes that forms relationships, good and bad.
I want my father to come along, help me to stand back up, dust off my britches, and tell me that it’s going to be okay…that my mistake happened in a moment and doesn’t have to define my entire life, or worse yet, cost me for all eternity.
When I was a girl, each Christmas my school would host Santa’s Workshop where students could buy small gifts for their families. The item I remember most from this little store was a giant, pink eraser printed with the words, “FOR BIG MISTAKES!”
Now let me ask you this, what do you imagine when you think of God?
My guess is that it’s often times quite different then what you’d wish for your perfect father figure. And why is that?
Too many times I feel like we fear the final nail in the coffin. For some of us, we sadly live our lives with the burden of what we feel must be unforgivable. We’re sure that God has one of those great big erasers and has summarily scrubbed out our name.
I’m urging you, don’t make this BIG MISTAKE. Throw out the image of that eraser, and imagine instead that God uses golf pencils. You know, the stubby pencils with no erasers.
Just as we’d never imagine our perfect father to be vindictive, lying in wait for us to screw things up so badly that he can blight us from memory, why do we project this image onto God?
If this is your struggle, try filling it with a cup of golf pencils instead.
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9
It’s the truth, it’s factual, God loves you, is full to overflowing with forgiveness, and doesn’t want to be separated from any of His children. A desk filled with golf pencils – no erasers in sight!