{"id":9110,"date":"2021-06-02T12:49:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T17:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=9110"},"modified":"2022-04-22T21:08:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T21:08:23","slug":"healing-fatherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2021\/06\/healing-fatherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing Fatherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Many fathers (and mothers, too\u2014this is an issue that warps all parent-child relationships) are simply awful to their children\u2014which means that Jesus\u2019 words about God\u2019s \u201cfatherhood\u201d<\/a> (or any invocation of \u201cparenthood\u201d applied to God) are not easy pills to swallow. Maybe that\u2019s you. Maybe your parents were abusive, or distant, or aloof,<\/a> and your relationship, if you have one at all, is unhealthy, conflicted, or worse\u2014severed completely. There\u2019s a part of you that recoils from the idea of relating to God as \u201cfather\u201d<\/a> because the parent figures in your life were such a disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot tell you how many times as a pastor I have sat with men and women of all ages who chart the beginning of their life\u2019s issues with \u201cWell, my dad . . .\u201d or, \u201cWell, my mom . . .\u201d The relationship, for better or for worse, is<\/em> a vestigia trinitatis<\/em>. There\u2019s no getting around it. When it breaks down, we spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, for as many of those stories as I\u2019ve heard, for as much anger and bitterness as I\u2019ve seen, I\u2019ve also observed that the deepest parts of us ache for the blessing of father and mother. Maybe that\u2019s you too. When you gaze into the relationship between Jesus and his Father, there is a powerful and ineffaceable part of you that longs to find your place in that perfection. You are desperate to know what Jesus knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you gaze into the relationship between Jesus and his Father, there is a powerful and ineffaceable part of you that longs to find your place in that perfection. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now\u2014full disclosure here\u2014let me just say that I\u2019ve been blessed in my own life to come from a long line of great dads. On the Arndt side of the family, I am the fifth in an unbroken series of firstborn sons. My own oldest son, Ethan, is the sixth. Herman Arndt, Martin Arndt, James Arndt, William Arndt, Andrew Arndt, and Ethan Arndt. A great deal of my own sense of identity comes from the fact that I have a place in that line of those good, decent, godly men. In fact, on my desk I have a picture of myself with my Grandpa Jim\u2014me, a toothy, beaming six-year-old, leaning back against his chest, with his massive arm around me. It reminds me that I come from somewhere, that I have a name, a place, and identity. I am an Arndt<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the process of spiritual maturity is coming to grips with all of the places in which our family heritage is not and could never be enough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the thing\u2014being an \u201cArndt\u201d who comes from this line of good men is not enough. I\u2019m not saying that theoretically<\/em>, either. I\u2019m saying it experientially<\/em>. Part of the process of spiritual maturity<\/a> is coming to grips with all of the places in which our family heritage is not and could never be enough. It is learning to recognize where character flaws have been passed on from generation to generation, where sin-stained perceptions of the world have been encoded in our understanding of reality, where things you took for granted as \u201cnormal\u201d are\u2014on further review\u2014out of sync with the Kingdom of God. As it turns out, we cannot live by vestiges alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve been reading from Andrew Arndt\u2019s book, All Flame<\/a><\/em>. Do you struggle with seasons of divine obscurity? Here is a powerful book on how to experience the Trinity\u2014vivid and accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Andrew<\/figure>
Andrew Arndt<\/span>

is a teaching pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs (and additionally the lead pastor of New Life East), and is the host of the Essential Church podcast. He received his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and was previously the associate pastor at Sanctuary Church in Tulsa and the teaching pastor at Bloom Church in Denver. Andrew is also on the writing team of Missio Alliance.<\/p>\n

More from Andrew<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many fathers (and mothers, too\u2014this is an issue that warps all parent-child relationships) are simply awful to their children\u2014which means that Jesus\u2019 words about God\u2019s \u201cfatherhood\u201d (or any invocation of \u201cparenthood\u201d applied to God) are not easy pills to swallow. … <\/p>\n

Read moreHealing Fatherhood<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[38,46],"yoast_head":"\nHealing Fatherhood | The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not all of us have great parents, but when we gaze into the relationship between Jesus and his Father, we are desperate to know what Jesus knew.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2021\/06\/healing-fatherhood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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