The Love Of The Father

Encouraging... Day After Day

A fresh word of encouragement to uplift your faith for action today.

- The Love Of The Father

“And I will be a Father to you,And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” – 2 Corinthians 6:18 NASB

As I was growing up, my grandfather was one of the father figures in my life. He was a quiet man, but he spent his entire life going out of his way to provide and care for his family. I remember how he would constantly work himself to the bone, yet he would always be there when you needed him. He was also the first to help out on necessary weekend projects. He was always trying to find ways to spend time with his family and grandchildren, whether that was watching my sisters dance performances, coming to my sporting events, or kicking our butts at family game night.

On the surface, my grandfather appeared like a very serious man, but when he would get to laughing, his face would turn bright red, and he would have a huge grin on his face. He always thought he was clever, so whenever he did something funny, the entire family was roaring with laughter. I also recall all of the times when he took the time to teach me useful skills, whether it was skills for life, or skills working with tools, while we enjoyed time together doing a mutual hobby on the weekends. This man was not perfect, but he was an active and living demonstration of love in my life.

I understand that not everyone has a positive experience with the father figures in their life, but this is how God wants us to see Him… as a good Father! He wants us to know and think of Him as our perfect Father, who is always looking for ways to bless us, to provide for us, and who wants to spend time with us. We may or may not have had good earthly fathers, but we can have a perfect relationship with the Heavenly Father.

In John 14:9, Jesus said "...He who has seen Me has seen the Father." Jesus came to show us what the Father was really like. By observing His daily life, Jesus showed us His Father’s character of unconditional love. While Jesus spent his life on earth, He went about healing, delivering, and caring for others, which has given us a living picture of what God is truly like...a loving Heavenly Father who cares for His children. All of us want a Father like that!

One of the best examples of a loving father is found in Luke 15:11-24 where Jesus tells us a story of a father whose son demanded his inheritance before the time, then went and spent it all on extravagant and wasteful living. Let’s look at it together…

“To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons.

The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.

About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.

The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!

I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,

and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.

And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,

for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.” – Luke 15:11-24 NLT

It is obvious that this son had made some colossal mistakes. So after blowing all his money from the estate, and now starving, the son went back to beg from his father. Now, while many people who read this story focus on the prodigal son who returned home, I want to turn our attention to the father and what he did instead. When he saw his son returning, the father ran. He didn’t just walk, he ran to embrace his son. Then, the father called for the restoration of the son’s status by telling his servants to bring out the best clothes, put a ring on the son’s finger and shoes on his feet, then fire up the grill, for a party needed to take place to celebrate the son’s return. This is a loving, forgiving, and restoring kind of father.

This story is meant to explain to us just exactly how much God loves us. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." The father in the story was not willing to give up on his son, yet the Heavenly Father was willing to give up His Son, Jesus, so we could be freed from sin and have eternal life with God. When John 3:16 says that God “gave” His only begotten Son, it means that He gave Him up to die the sinner’s death on the cross in our place, so we could live. God loved us that much that He made a way, through Jesus, just so He could be with us, and not be eternally separated from us. This is amazing love!

Now, for those that choose to believe on Jesus as Savior and Lord, and believe in what He did to set us free from sin, God receives us into eternal life and His family...in other words, God becomes our Father, as we are born again into life through our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, the Father looks for every possible way to bless us in Christ.

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? " Romans 8:32.

No matter what situation you may have found yourself in, or what troubles life may be throwing at you, I hope this proves to you, or reminds you, that there is a Heavenly Father who loves you. Just like how my grandfather looked for every possible way to bless and show his love to me, there is a Heavenly Father who cares deeply for you, and He has found every way to bless you in Christ Jesus.

Why not let Him show you his unconditional love, today!