January 18th: O Righteous Father
Towards the end of Jesus prayer in John 17, as he once again addressed God the Father, He prayed “O Righteous Father…” (Jn 17:25).
When we began the 21 days of prayer, we took time to consider what it means for God to be our Father. We noted then that when the Bible speaks of God as Father, it emphasizes the close, intimate relationship that we, as believers, share with God and stresses His personal care and concern for us. Additionally, we noted that as “Father,” He is the perfect expression of all the good characteristics & attributes that our earthly fathers possess, and He lacks all of the inherent flaws, mistakes, and misdeeds that earthly fathers have and do.
This is what Jesus meant when He refers to God as Righteous Father, as the word righteous means being in accordance with high standards of rectitude, upright, just, fair. It means that God is (as part of his nature) and does (in his actions) what is upright, just, and fair.
As you spend time praying today, spend time praying & praising God for being our Righteous Father. As you do, thank Him for not letting sin & evil go unpunished, and thank Jesus for willingly taking upon himself the punishment we deserved, so we could be forgiven.