My son turns two in just a few months here. He's an interesting kid so far. Having a very outgoing and affectionate older sister has made him fairly aggressive and independent. He wants to turn the lights off and on, feed himself and sometimes tries to dress himself as well. If you try to help him, you get yelled at. He LOVES his mommy which, for me, is great to see. "Mommy" is by far the word he uses most with "no" coming in second and "mine" a close third. Other favorites of his are "doggie," "sissy," "thank you" and "bye-bye." Did you notice an important word that is strangely absent from that list?
For whatever reason, my son refuses to call me "daddy." He also won't say "dada," "dad' or even "pop." No, when my son is talking to or about me he calls me "John." That's right, my not even two-year-old son insists on calling me by my first name. And it's not as if he doesn't know to call me "daddy." When he calls me "John" I don't answer him and when my wife hears him she tries to correct him. He'll say, "John!" and she'll tell him, "Daddy," and he'll tell her, "No!" and then proceed to call me "John." The fact that my son thinks we're on a first name basis doesn't bode well for me when he gets older.
Now, I don't think Ian realizes that when he calls me by my first name other than "daddy," he is refusing to acknowledge my relationship to him. He is not properly recognizing me as his father, provider, protector, teacher, caregiver, and giver of life. What he doesn't realize is that by using my first name, he is putting himself on the same level as me. I wonder how often we do this with God. I wonder if we think we're on a first name basis with the Creator of the universe. My son has an excuse in that he is merely a toddler. Do we have an excuse?
As a worship leader I sometimes play a song called "Friend of God" written by Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor. This is a great song that I think really illustrates how amazing it is that the Creator of time and space and everything in it still longs for a relationship with us, His creations. But I think there is a danger when we get TOO caught up seeing God as our friend. Yes He is that but He is so much more. And when we fail to recognize that we are essentially putting ourselves on His level. And that is a tragic mistake.
Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't call God our friend. Jesus himself called His disciples His friends and so it's safe to assume He kinda feels the same way about us today. But what I am saying is that when we focus only on THAT aspect, we run the risk of forgetting that God is also our father, provider, protector, caregiver and giver of life. When we get to comfortable calling God by His first name we lose site of the fact that He is also the one who sustains us. The one who provides the very oxygen we breath. The one who keeps our hearts pumping. The one who in vast enough to imagine and create the infinite universe. When we think of God primarily as our friend, we forget to stand in awe and wonder of who He and what and why He is. Growing up my dad used to tell my brother and I that he wanted to be our friend but that he was our father FIRST. I think we need to see God as our God first, and friend second. It doesn't mean He's not our friend. It just means that He's our God first.
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