People all over the world celebrate Father’s Day. In the United States, today is the day we honor fathers and father figures. For many people this is a special day to appreciate dads and the love and formative influence they have had in our lives. For others the day doesn’t have much significance or stirs up hurtful memories because their father was absent, busy, unkind, self-centered, or maybe even abusive. Some fathers have passed away. Others have joined families as caring stepfathers and foster dads or intervened as uncles, big brothers, mentors, or coaches.
My father loved our family when my brothers and I were growing up. However, one day he deserted us to pursue his own desires, which caused a great deal of pain, suffering, and trauma. Years later after my parents divorced and each of them had remarried, my dad realized the devastation of his sin. He sought forgiveness from God and our family. By God’s grace we were able to reconcile. Several years after that he died of a rare blood disease. Although my dad failed us and hurt us, I choose to forgive him and to focus on the positive impact he had on our family. I’m also grateful for my stepfather who desires to love our family with God’s love.
Do you or did you have a loving father? Fortunately, no matter what your earthly father is like, you have an awesome heavenly father in God. He created you and loves you. Good fathers protect, provide, lead, serve, teach, discipline, sacrifice, encourage, comfort, and love. God is your best father. He knows your deepest desires and your innermost needs. He comes alongside you in the brokenness of your self-centered sin and rebellion, but he cares too much to leave you there. If you’ll follow, he will lead you to something much better. Your fulfillment is to be with him, to be like him, and to do what he does. He graciously makes that possible through Jesus, the Son of God who became a man, willingly allowed himself to be killed on your behalf, and rose again to conquer sin and death. At incomprehensible sacrifice, Jesus has done everything required to save and restore you. You can experience a loving, ever deepening relationship with God when you turn from your way of doing things and follow Jesus by faith. True life, joy, peace, hope, and purpose is found no where else.
Jesus, as the quintessential son, shows us how to know God and enables us to do so. Jesus called God, “Abba Father.” He wants us to do the same. “Abba Father” is Aramaic for an intimate, personal relationship—like saying “Papa” or “Daddy.” The apostle Paul wrote of it this to believers in Galatia, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir” (Galatians 4:4-7). Can you imagine? The creator of the universe loves you and wants you to call him “Daddy” just like his own son. Anyone who trusts and obeys Jesus is a prince or princess and co-heir with him in God’s glorious kingdom. Although many people have rejected Jesus to try in vain to find life, only those who humbly accept him does he give the right to become a child of God now and forever (John 1:9-14). That’s why the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:12-17).
You were made in God’s image and you will never be satisfied apart from him (Genesis 1:27, Ephesians 2:10; Psalm 1). What is your relationship with God right now? If you don’t know God, you can today. If you do know him, you can grow even closer. Run into his open arms. Seek forgiveness for your sin and mistakes. God wants to love you into your best life. Receive a fresh start. Each day let Jesus teach you to be the son, daughter, mother, or father that you are meant to be.