Sunday’s Blessing – 07/12/2026 – Father or Benefactor?

Sunday’s Blessing – 07/12/2026 – Father or Benefactor?

I’m reading a book by C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors, on the Psalms. It’s not, by his own admission, an academic treatment of the book in the Bible. Instead, it is a look through various lenses of the book as a whole, drawing certain conclusions about the motivation and meaning of the different writers. One topic discussed is on the view of Old Testament religious thought regarding life and the hereafter.

Lewis makes a statement that really caught my attention. He said it is only after discovering a relationship with the Father that Heaven and Hell make any sense at all. Heaven, by definition, is being present with God. Hell is the absence of God. Prior to a relationship (getting saved in evangelical-speak) with the Creator, the idea of Heaven is something to be obtained only through a rigorous adherence to a set of laws and behavior worthy of acceptance by the Almighty. Hell is the place of eternal torment where those who do not meet the mark are banished.

If “being saved” is driven by the desire to make Heaven when you die, or to miss Hell, what do you really gain in this life by the experience? Instead, the focus of “making disciples” should be introducing others to their Maker, Who made a way for fallen man to get restored into fellowship by receiving the forgiveness provided through the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, Who came to earth as the Son of Man in order to die on the cross to pay the price required for the sin of all mankind. He did all of this so that we (mankind) could finally know the Father personally, as friend to friend, in a life changing relationship which we crave but cannot find in another person. This is Heaven! To think otherwise is to discount any experience we can have while we still live on earth. To relegate true happiness to Heaven (the hereafter) is to accept God’s offer to live with Him forever after we die, but treat everything until then as toil and trouble we must endure until the end.

Thus, the title of today’s blog: Father or Benefactor? Did you become a Christian in order to experience closeness with the One Who loves you most or simply appease Him until you inherit Heaven when we die? He has promised Heaven (presence with Him forever) but His primary desire to have a relationship with you now! He wants to be so much more than a Benefactor to bless you in the end. He wants to “walk with you in the cool of the day” like He did with Adam. He wants to visit with you on the mountain like He did with Moses. He wants to inhabit you every minute of every day as He promised He would, through the Holy Spirit. The real joy in being a Christian is the presence of God in your life 24/7 – in THIS life, not just the one to come!

Being adopted by the King is the best thing you could ever do. It’s so simple a child can understand it and act on it. Maybe the problem is the relationship you had with your father wasn’t great. I get that. I lost my father when I was nine. I lost the only grandfather I ever knew when I was nine. Even though I came to faith in Christ just before my tenth birthday, it took a long time for me to understand what it meant to know God as Father; to know the joy of entering his presence (or Him mine); to know the comfort of sharing the issues I face; to hear His voice speak and all the troubles I thought I had diminish to their rightful priority; to realize He will never not be there. 

If Heaven is all there is then why do we stay on earth for so long after we become the Children of God? Get a new perspective today. Realize the present IS Heaven (the presence of God). As a Christian, you will never experience Hell (separation from God). Live your life from that reality and it will make all the difference.