Looking Through Your Father's Eyes

“You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.”

Mark 1:11

3 of our four kids, 2 of our 3 in-laws and 5 of our 6 grandchildren will be in our new home this weekend.  In fact, five of them – Ben, Anna, Kyah, Dillan and Hailey – arrived last night.  Last night as we stopped for a bite, and this morning at breakfast – it was just fun to watch them.  As a father, father in-law and grandpa, I could not be prouder or more thankful for the family God has given to Linda and to me.  Thinking about that on the way into church this morning, my mind wandered to my own dad… to something one of my uncles told me at dad’s funeral.  He said, “You know Wayne, you were the apple of your father’s eye.”  That was true but not just for me.  My dad loved and was extremely proud of all of his kids and grandkids.  Knowing his love really matters to me, because there are days when I look at myself and I really struggle to like myself… days when I need to look at my life through my father’s eyes, because I struggle to see what he saw in me.

I think there are a lot of us who struggle with that.  Let me ask you - How do you see yourself?  The eyes through which we look at ourselves have a big impact on how we live life and how we get along with others… even impacting what kind of relationship we have or don’t have with God.   I read story this past week about a reporter who at one time looked at her life through the prism of her success.  She wrote, “I sometimes hear Christians talk about how terrible life must be for atheists. But our lives were not terrible. Life actually seemed pretty wonderful, filled with opportunity and good conversation and privilege.”  In other words, she looked at her life and thought, “What do I need with a god?”  Then there is the young man who grew up with a lot of criticism.  Still today he looks at himself through those lenses and believes he can’t do anything right.  10 people will compliment him but he will obsess about the one negative comment. There was the woman was abused verbally for so long that she came to believe all the negative things her husband said about her.   Some see themselves through the lenses of experience.  Based on their life experiences they expect either that they will always succeed or are afraid to try because they are afraid they will always fail.  I told you about the man who committed adultery.  He looked through the eyes of his own conscience and God’s law and was convinced God would never listen to his prayers again.

That’s why baptism is so important, well actually two baptisms are so important – the baptism of Jesus and your baptism.   Those two baptisms are closely related.  I love the story of our Lord’s baptism.  He comes to the Jordan river to be baptized by John the Baptist.  As he comes up out of the water “He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are My Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  Those words, spoken by the heavenly Father to His Son Jesus are so very important for you and me.  After all Jesus wasn’t baptized to wash away His sin.  He had no sin.  He was baptized because of your sin and mine.  He came to John, to offer Himself as our substitute.  He came not just to stand beside us in the water, but to stand in our place.  That was the mission of Jesus.  He gave up His place in order to take our place in baptism, and in death.  Then He rose again that we might have His place in heaven… His place in the Father’s love.  When His Father spoke those words to Jesus at baptism, the Father was accepting His Son’s offer.

That’s where your baptism comes in.  At Your baptism, God gave to you a place in His family… the place won for you by the sacrifice of Jesus.  Because of Jesus, at your baptism your heavenly Father said to you, “You are My Son, My daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  How can that be?  Because in baptism when God looks at you, He doesn’t see your sin.  He sees His Son Jesus.  That’s so important.  I know that most of us struggle at one point or another, with liking, let alone loving ourselves.  That’s why these two baptisms are so very important.  For in the baptism of Jesus and your own baptism, God invites you and me daily to look at ourselves through different eyes… through His eyes… He reminds us that in spite over everything, no matter what our experiences, no matter what others say, no matter what we have done – we are free to like ourselves… to love ourselves.  After that’s how He sees us.  In God’s eyes, because of Jesus, You and I are His well-loved children… He is pleased to claim us as His own.  It makes a difference to see yourself through your Father’s eyes.