UBC Wed For Life

We recently celebrated Father’s Day. All the Believers that went to church on Father’s Day undoubtedly heard some reference to God being our heavenly father. There is good reason for that. The Bible makes it clear that we are to look at God in that way. It’s no surprise that Jesus, the Son of God, referred to him almost exclusively as Father. However, that relational term was never limited to his use. When he instructed others on how they should speak to God, he recited what we now refer to as the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). The first part of that prayer is an acknowledgement of God as our father. Again, for Believers, that connection shouldn’t be hard to see. We understand that God is supposed to be at the head of our lives just as the Bible says the father is supposed to be the head of the family (Ephesians 5:23). God provided commandments for our betterment just like the Bible says fathers set the rules that are intended to set the children on the right path (Ephesia

The Bible is full of stories that, at some times, seem too incredible to be true. As Believers, we know that God is capable of anything, so there is nothing that should be off the table as far as what’s possible. Still, when we go through our daily lives and fail to see anything as miraculous as some of what appears in the Bible, it can, inevitably, lead us to question whether certain things are true. Take the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-28). Given the horrors that we know have been perpetrated in this world, the idea of a city where the people are so immoral and wicked that God would want to destroy the whole city may not be all that unbelievable. Still, you’d probably be hard pressed to come up with a city quite as bad as Sodom or Gomorrah in today’s world. We’ve all heard news reports that give us a glimpse into how far into wickedness humanity can sink. If not for rule of law and some of the authorities in place, who’s to say just how bad things could get.

The Bible gives us many stories that feature a variety of characters. Most of us can name several of these characters and tell about their lives or their feats, but sometimes the significance of the people and what they represent gets lost. For that reason, it may be useful to take a look at certain characters in the Bible and think about them not just as they fit in their own stories, but also what role they play in the story that the Bible as a whole is telling. Let’s start at the beginning with Adam. He was the first human being, and along with Eve, was the progenitor of humanity. He was not the first living thing made though. God made all the animals before Man, but then made Man to rule over all the living things of the Earth. In order for Man to rule over all other things, God had to set us apart, and his way of doing that is interesting. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the