Warren Wiersbe, in “The Names of Jesus,” reveals some aspects of our Heavenly Father. These perceptions will help us as earthly fathers guide our children through life.

Isaiah 63:16 calls God our Everlasting Father. He is the architect of our eternity and orchestrates our lives to His purpose. The things of life are tied to time, and we being eternal, are not able to keep them. As God’s creation, we are made for more than this life. We, when speaking about life, refer to it in the present or past tense because this is all we know for sure. When we look to the future, we can only speculate what will happen by wishing and hoping. However, when God works within us He does so for eternity, because He exists simultaneously in the eternal past and future.

When we refer to God as Creator, we see His power and wisdom. His Holiness is revealed in the giving of the commandments. It is as a Father that we see His love for us as an individual. This adds a new dimension to our existence. Life is more than getting things we cannot keep or experiencing pleasures that do not last. It is to experience God and enjoy Him, now and for all eternity. Living life with this in mind means we are on our Heavenly Father’s schedule. Jesus lives by His Father’s timetable when He says, “my hour has come.”

One day we will be able to see how the things in this life work together for eternity. When things occur that we do not understand, we see them as delays of our plans or denials of our wants. Our Eternal Father however, uses His schedule for our good and His Glory. Trusting our Eternal Father allows Him to give us even more than we expect. The God of Eternity, because He knows the future, cannot make a mistake.

The most important role of an earthly father is to prepare his children for eternity. We must teach them that our lives are too important to be left up just to us. Our children should have plans for their lives but also allow God to change them for their benefit. Those things we call failures, disappointments or losses are used by God as assets for eternal treasure. We are to teach our children not to just how to make a living but to develop a standard of living. What we have is not as important as how we get it. A father is able to enjoy his children on earth but can also enjoy them for eternity. We are to introduce them to the Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ as Savior who prepares us a place in His heaven by taking our place in hell.

STEVE CONWELL can be reached at SteveConwell@outlook.com.