Our Father in Heaven

You can learn a lot from how someone starts a conversation. When you call your parents you probably greet them by saying, "Hi Dad," or Hi Mom." It would feel strange to say, "Most deeply felt warmth and kindness to our benevolent family patriarch." You greet someone with whom you are close in a way that communicates your closeness. By contrast, you would greet a king differently. When John Calvin dedicated his Institutes of the Christian Religion to Francis I, of France, he began, "To His Most Christian Majesty, the most mighty and illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His sovereign." It would have been inappropriate to begin his dedicatory letter with the words, "Hey King!" Because Francis was Calvin's superior.

Jesus teaches us about who God is and how we should relate to him by his introduction to the Lord's Prayer. Jesus begins with these few words "Our Father in Heaven" (Matt. 6:9, Luke 11:2). These words teach us God's closeness to believers, he is our Father. They also teach God's majesty, he is in heaven.