The Daddy Relationship

By Dwight Teske

I grew up in a hyperreligious environment that left me with an erroneous idea of God and what Christianity was really all about. After marriage, I changed churches at the instance of my wife. After a relocation, we joined a church that preached God's love and his forgiveness, not a God that is actively looking to punish. In retirement, I started a business to generate disposable income I could use to help others. The business failed miserably and wiped me out financially. God and I went to war! We battled for years. With the help of other Christians, much Bible study, and prayer, I started to come back. As I deeply studied the Bible, I began to realize that most of what I thought I knew about God was wrong. I found a God that was, in many ways, the polar opposite of the one I knew. I began writing essays, which expanded into thesis-length, and ultimately, a book. The book is an extension of my learning. It was over a year in writing as I learned and rewrote that the book became what it is. I cannot help but believe that mine is not a unique story, but that there are many others out there who, for one reason or another, have developed a terribly distorted vision of God. My prayer is that God can use this book to help those people to discover his love, grace, and understanding.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798888329573

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The Daddy Relationship

Dwight Teske

ISBN 979-8-88832-956-6 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-957-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Dwight Teske

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

1

Think in Spiritual Terms

2

Peter, Paul, James, John

3

James

4

Paul

5

Peter

6

John

7

Ecclesiastes

8

Conclusion

9

Love as a Noun

Postscript

About the Author

1

Think in Spiritual Terms

To explain the title, what I am saying is that, for years, I looked at the promises of reward in physical terms. That if I did right, I would succeed financially. Reading the Old Testament, particularly Deuteronomy and Joshua, can lead you to that conclusion. I have come to realize that for the most part, our reward will be heavenly. Think about it: If God's blessing was intended to be physical, wouldn't the apostles have had tremendous wealth and possessions? Think about the apostle Paul, the greatest missionary/evangelist that ever lived, the man who wrote a large portion of the New Testament. His life was, from all accounts, miserable from a physical point of view. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, in constant peril from those who hated his message; but if you read his account of his life those were light afflictions compared to the reward that awaited him. I have found that if you read the Bible with a spiritual point of view, it takes on a whole new meaning. In spite of all the hardships he endured, Paul obviously had a very close relationship with God. A relationship I have come to describe as a daddy relationship.

It is this relationship I am attempting to research and understand. If you are reading this, then I have learned it, have completed the book to my satisfaction, and more importantly to God's satisfaction, have learned to see God as a personality across the room and not someone who is in a distant location, hopefully listening to me and cares enough to occasionally answer. To draw an inadequate analogy, it is like communicating by text or email. You can communicate with another person, but what is missing is the facial and verbal reaction to the conversation. Without that, you are only having half of a conversation. My desire is to get close enough to God to see the facial and verbal reaction. I believe that if you carefully examine the lives of Joseph in the Old Testament, David, Paul, John, and many other people in the Bible, it is obvious that they had that facial reaction type of communication with God.

Jesus in his sermon on the mount was setting up the completion of the Jewish law. Christ did not come to replace the law but to complete it. To carry it to its logical spiritual conclusion. Jesus knew that in three years, his ministry would end, and after his ascension, the Holy Spirit would be coming. The New Testament covenant would then be the completion of the law. The average person would now have access to the power of God and would have the power at his disposal to live a life that previously was impossible. With regard to spiritual thinking in Matthew 6 beginning in verse 19–21, he gave us a concise directive on spiritual thinking. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus also said in Matthew 22, Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is this is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is, like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. This is our baseline to spiritual thinking. If your first love is God, and your second love is your fellow man, then every thought takes on a whole new meaning. When you reach the position of real spiritual thinking, it completely alters the reasons you do what you do. The things you do may not change significantly, but the reason you do them takes on a whole new spectrum of thinking. Backing up a couple of lines, there is nothing wrong with having things. God gave us this world to enjoy. The problem is the importance we place on them since the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God; if things get in the way of that, they become wrong.

In Ephesians 1:18–23, Paul states,

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

While there are a few biblical examples of raising a person from death, those examples are rare and were always accomplished through God. So consider for a moment that we have at our disposal the power that God exerted when he raised Jesus from the dead. I don't know about you, but that gives me a lot to think about when things are going wrong. This to me is a bullet point of spiritual thinking.

I have had many things in my life that I questioned, "God, I am really trying to be what I believe you want me to be, and everything is going wrong. Where are your promises? If, however, you think in spiritual terms, It is okay, God, that I am going through all this to accomplish something. I do not know what or why, but I do believe that there is something to be learned or accomplished through this, so I will trust in you." Now I am not saying that this is easy or that I have in any way arrived; I am only speaking about what we can become through constant growth. This is what is known as the human condition, the battle between good and evil that we will be fighting as long as we reside in this world.

To underscore this point, almost everyone knows about the poor widow who put two small coins in the treasury. Jesus pointed out to his followers that she had given more than anyone else because she put in everything she had—everything. Now think of the back story. This woman had lost her husband; she obviously had no means of support. No children are mentioned. Women were not normally in the workforce. She was dependent on the kindness of others for her meager support. Do you think it is possible that she questioned God why she had such a difficult existence? She obviously was a believer; otherwise, she would not have had the faith to give all she had. This widow had to go through all that difficulty for that one short moment in history. That moment when she put those two small coins in the offering. At that moment, those two coins might have meant her being able to purchase a small biscuit or some other thing so she did not have to go to bed with an empty stomach, but she did it nonetheless. I can only imagine that those standing around were scoffing under their breath that those two small coins really meant nothing to the temple budget; why bother? We know nothing more about that widow, but we do know that her sacrifice has been the subject of sermons for two centuries, and for two centuries, people have been encountering her in heaven and exclaiming, "You are that widow?" For the rest of eternity, she will have that distinction. Quite a reward for a moment in time. Do you think that even for the briefest of moments, she has looked back on her life since waking up in heaven and wished that her life had been easier? I can guarantee that she has not. The blessing that was waiting for her totally eliminated from her memory any pain she went through on earth. Another thing worth observing is that there is not a person on earth that can tell you the name of any other person that put money in that collection plate of any amount. It is not the size of your service that counts, but the size of your sacrifice. Isaiah weighs in on this in verse 17 of chapter 8:

Surely it was for my benefit

that I suffered such anguish.

In your love you kept me

from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins

behind your back.

Proverbs 22:4 says, Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life. If you have been around this world for any length of time, you know that in a physical frame of mind, that verse just does not work. If, however, you think in spiritual terms, it makes perfect sense, as the widow learned. The scriptures state in many ways that we will be rewarded for what we do. We just need to realize that the reward will probably not be here.

In Psalm 73:1–28, Asaph writes,

Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

I had nearly lost my foothold.

For I envied the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

They have no struggles;

their bodies are healthy and strong.

They are free from common human burdens;

they are not plagued by human ills.

Therefore pride is their necklace;

they clothe themselves with violence.

From their callous hearts comes iniquity;

their evil imaginations have no limits.

They scoff, and speak with malice;

with arrogance they threaten oppression.

Their mouths lay claim to heaven,

and their tongues take possession of the earth.

Therefore their people turn to them

and drink up waters in abundance.

They say, "How would God know?

Does the Most High know anything?"

This is what the wicked are like—

always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure

and have washed my hands in innocence.

All day long I have been afflicted,

and every morning brings new punishments.

If I had spoken out like that,

I would have betrayed your children.

When I tried to understand all this,

it troubled me deeply.

till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

They are like a dream when one awakes;

when you arise, Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies.

When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds.

How many times in your life have you looked at the world at large and wondered why the evil people succeed? They have no conscience nor concern for the people they might be hurting; their only thought is about their own success. This was Asaph's complaint in writing this psalm. He could not reconcile in his mind why the good people had it harder and the evil people had it easier and easier. I have felt like Asaph more times in my life than I can remember, and I still struggle with it. But then Asaph has a revelation. It troubled him deeply until verse 17. "Till I entered the house of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. At what point do they get cast down to ruin? Generally, not in this life. I have lived many years now, and it seems that the wicked usually have it a lot easier than seems fair. But when you start thinking in spiritual terms, it starts to make sense. Beginning in verse 22, Asaph starts to come around and realize where we belong in our thinking. In verse 26, it states, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Forever is not in this world. Forever is in