A Good Father

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and father figures who have contributed to others’ lives. You are loved and appreciated more than you know. 

As I was reflecting on Father’s Day, I was thinking about my own dad. He worked hard most of his life to provide for his immediate family and to help those in our neighborhood. He never shied away from hard work or letting me know that he loved me, even when I wasn’t at my best. He was always there if I needed him. He never turned me away because he didn’t have time or if he was in the middle of something, he always made time later to deal with my “crisis.” He is a good dad and I thank God for blessing me with him.

But, how much better is God the Father? He is immeasurable. Let’s look back and think about all God has done for us. I'm only going to list a few things here. When we sinned against Him and were separated, He sent His only Son to die for us as a sacrifice to save us and buy us back (John 3:16). He also disciplines us when we are going down the wrong path for correction (Prov 3:11-12, 15:5).  He provides for us (Matt 6:26). He directs us in the right path to go so we will have great success (Prov 3:5-6) and when we don’t follow His directions, He’s still there to guide us back when we turn to Him. He gives us grace and mercy when we have done nothing to deserve them (Jam 1:17). Even when we reject Him, He stays right there waiting on us – look at Israel throughout the Old Testament. God loves us so much and we take that for granted (1 John 3:1). 

God is a Good Father, but He is not a pushover. He will not push Himself on us. If we decide not to follow Him and not to have faith in Jesus, He will not force us. I hear the question, if God is so Good why does He let bad things happen? God is sovereign – He doesn’t answer to us. He created the world with a certain order to things and He gave us free will (we are made in His likeness). We get to reason and decide what we will do and what we won’t. When Adam and Eve decided to sin in the Garden, the sin nature was born in all of us (Gen 3; Rom 3:23). That’s why God sent Jesus so that we would have a way to be redeemed. But God does not act contrary to His nature (Num 23:19). He gives us a choice every day to follow Him or not (Rom 11:22). People do evil things. When evil is done, consequences follow – we may never see them, but they are coming (Deut 24:16). Reaping and sowing is a principle or law of nature – it will occur no matter how long it takes (Gal 6:7-9). 

We all have a choice to make whether to accept Jesus and have God be our Good Father or not. I choose the former. God has been so good to me my whole life, not because I’ve been so good (I haven’t), but because that is His nature.  Yes, I’ve done wrong and been chastised. I’ve also seen so much favor in my life. I hope you get to know Him for yourself. If you’re like me, you’ll be surprised at how much He loves us even when we’re so far from perfect it’s sad. There is nothing like a real relationship with the Father. There is nothing more worth it.