Scripture: "Our Father which art in heaven."—LUKE xi. 2.
How simple, how beautiful, this invocation which Christ puts upon our lips! And yet how inconceivably rich in its mean¬ing, in the fulness of the love and blessing it contains.
Just think what a book could be written of all the memories that there have been on earth of wise and loving fathers. Just think of what this world owes to the fathers who have made their children strong and happy in giving their lives to seek the welfare of their fellowmen. And then think how all this is but a shadow— a shadow of exquisite beauty, but still but a shadow of what the Father in heaven is to His children on earth.
What a gift Christ bestowed on us when He gave us the right to say: "Father!" "The Father of Christ," "Our Father," "My Father."
And then, "Our Father in heaven," our heavenly Father. We count it a great privilege as we bow in worship to know that the Father comes near to us where we are upon earth. But we soon begin to feel the need of rising up to enter into His Holy presence in heaven, to breathe its atmosphere, to drink in its spirit, and to become truly heavenly-minded. And as we in the power of thought and imagination leave earth behind, and in the power of the Holy Spirit enter the Holiest of all, where the seraphs wor¬ship, the word "heavenly Father" gets a new meaning, and our hearts come under an influence that can abide all the day.
And as we then gather up our thoughts of what fatherhood on earth has meant, and hear the voice of Christ saying: "How much more"—we feel the distance there is between the earthly picture and the heavenly reality, and can only bow in lowly, loving adora¬tion, "Father, our Father, my Father." And only thus can full joy and power come to us as we rest rejoicingly in the word: "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"
Oh, for grace to cultivate a heavenly spirit, and daily to prove that we are children who have a Father in heaven, and who love day by day to dwell in His Holy presence!
