“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)

“Let us come…”  This is yet another of Christ’s invitations for us to come as children to one who loves us and whom we love. No child needs an invitation to come to his/her father to start with. Only a break in the relationship will bring such a thing into being.

“boldly …” This is the idea of confidence, not presumption or demand, just as a child ought to be able to come to his/her father. When they know their father loves them they will come to him gladly, often and without fear of rejection.

“to the throne of grace” As a child naturally comes to his/her father expecting favourable treatment so we may come to our Heavenly Father. Unfortunately children in our world may not always receive it and become discouraged. Grace is there because of a relationship not the performance of the child.

Because we live in a fallen world every family is dysfunctional to some degree. Fathers often lack the example and training of how to be a godly father. So where can we go to find a faithful example of how a father should conduct himself toward his children?

Right! To the Bible, our Maker’s “manual” to bring correction to the bad role models we have seen and followed. Of course, the Bible will also reveal the role models worthy of emulating. Even if we do not always have a right attitude and don’t always perform in the right way toward our children, we can give them the example that we are learning from God’s Word.

On my 50th birthday my son gave me a poem which includes these lines:

“Every morning I get up and see the closed door, light streaming out

I know that behind that door you are praying for me

The closed door is to me a symbol, a sign

That reminds me of your walk with the Lord”

This is the grace of God – a son not exasperated! But it would have been quite a different poem had not Christ intervened in my life when my son was a young child. Our family became less dysfunctional through the years as we modelled our attitudes and behaviour on those revealed in our Heavenly Father. For me, as father, the relationship between God and Israel has been a great source of guidance, understanding and wisdom.