How Have You Learned the Father?

George MacDonald posed this question in his brilliant book Unspoken Sermons: “How have you learned the Father?”

If we were to be honest and dive into our own inner world (and that of most men), we would discover that the story of fatherlessness is not the exception but the norm. If we were to pause, let that soak in, and be honest, it might help us unearth a core assumption obscured below the surface of our masculine heart. What comes to mind, emotionally and unedited, when you think of your full experience and observations of “father” in our culture? Look at the examples of many of the men you grew up around — coaches, teachers, fathers of friends, the men in your masculine heritage — in these specific places in your story. I’m asking you to pause and take stock honestly. Write down the first ten words. Here’s why this is so significant to grasp: the primary place we establish our core beliefs about God as Father is our experience of our earthly father, the way “father” has been expressed in our story. This is why MacDonald went on to say that it’s better not to have known the Father than to have learned him wrong.

The single greatest factor that will shape our freedom, our strength, and our ability to become a king is receiving a spirit of sonship and allowing our understanding of our true Father to be reformed in every facet where it was harmed, lost, or learned wrong.


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