Several years ago when I read John Owen's Communion with God for the first time I was blown away by how generous and loving the Father is toward us in Christ. I had serious misunderstandings about the heart of my Father. See if you do too. Does this describe the way you see your Father?:
Let us then see the Father as full of love to us. Do not see the Father as one who is angry, but as one who is most kind and gentle. Let us see the Father as one who from eternity has always had kind thoughts towards us. It is a complete misunderstanding of the Father that makes us want to run away and hide from him. The Psalmist said, 'They that know you will put their trust in you.' How sad that we cannot stay long with God in spiritual meditations! The Father loses the company of his people because they are so ignorant of his love to them. His saints keep thinking only of his terrible majesty, severity and greatness, and so their hearts are not drawn to him in love. We must learn to think of his everlasting gentleness and compassion. We must remember his kind thoughts towards us which have been from eternity. Let us remember how eager and willing he is to accept us. If we did this, then we would not be able to bear one hour's absence from him. Instead, we find it difficult to spend even one hour with him. Let then this be the first thought that we have of the Father, that he is full of eternal love to us. Let our hearts and thoughts be filled with his love to us, even though many discouragements may lie in our way.This is what our Father is like toward us in Christ. To see the Scriptural backing for what Owen says here read Ephesians 1:3-14, keeping in mind that this whole section is praising what (specifically) the Father has done.
(By the way Communion with God is one of the top 5 most helpful books I have ever read.)
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