A Father’s Love

June is so fitting to discuss the love of a Father, the month set aside to honor all fathers. My earthly father was the epitome of God’s love and I remember him tenderly, leaving us with a legacy of love. Dad was a soft-spoken man with love and integrity that brought sincerity to the highest level. A niece said it best when she said, “Your Dad was so gentle, but underneath he was so strong.”

The following are excerpts taken from the book “Tea Time With God”.

Our family was blessed with a magnitude of love! I could not begin to explain all the memories I have of our parents and grandparents showing their love to their family. They genuinely acknowledged each family member as if we were the only one in their lives as they spent time with each individual. The sacrificing I witnessed is invaluable to me now. It is a reminder of what true love is, for there was no selfishness portrayed in their acts of kindness to and for each family member. I also witnessed their love and kindness being extended to friends and acquaintances throughout their years, treating them as immediate family. They were truly God’s hands extended, no matter the need. Then, there are the strangers that found their way to my grandparents’ house, needing food. Our grandparents home set along the main road, so hobos (as they were called in that day) found their way there and Grandma never let them continue their journey without a full stomach. Hebrews 13:2^TLB says “Don’t forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” My parents and grandparents always set the example of loving their neighbors, as specified in Mark 12:30-32.

All families have their ups and downs, and ours have not been exempt. However, the bond of love continually helps us to overlook our weaknesses, failures, hurts, and allows us to forgive one another freely. Yes, we are human, so it may take us awhile to get over certain things, but there is no doubt that we will. A sign hanging in my home reads “Family – forever for always, no matter what”. A good reminder for all of us. Agape Love (sacrificial love) can only come from God. His love enables us to treat one another correctly. 1 Peter 4:8^TLB says “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love makes up for many of your faults”.

Agape Love, that sacrificial love of God: Too often we take the simple things of God for granted, like HIS LOVE! We hear about God’s love all the time, but do we allow ourselves to experience His love?

To experience His love, we must ask ourselves these questions:

1. Do we read His Word hurriedly, out of duty; or do we read and meditate on His Word, allowing God time to speak to us?
2. The same with prayer: Do we acknowledge that prayer is our fellowship time with God? Do we recite and repeat the same quick prayers as we begin our day or do we allow God time to respond to our prayers? If we expect Him to speak to us and give us direction, don’t we need to take time to listen?

God’s greatest demonstration of His love is found in John 3:16-17. I know we have memorized these verses, but really hear what they are saying.

¹⁶ For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

Romans 10:9-11 – ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 5:8-9 – ⁸ But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.⁹ And since by His blood He did all this for us as sinners, how much more will He do for us now that He has declared us not guilty? Now He will save us from all of God’s wrath to come.

Although God’s Love is an indescribable love, let me reference Romans 8:38-29.

³⁸ For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, ³⁹ or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us.

Many scriptures reveal God’s love to us, but Ephesians 3:14-2 -titles this section “The Magnitude of God’s Love”. As we read this, look at this as your prayer for yourself.

^14-15 When I think of the wisdom and scope of His plan, I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God—some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth—¹⁶ that out of His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you the mighty inner strengthening of His Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; ^18-19 and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high His love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God Himself. ²⁰ Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. ²¹ May He be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of His master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ.

If you, dear reader, do not have a biological father that exemplifies the love of God, you can still be touched, you can still be protected, you can still have the yearning of your heart by giving that heart to a big God who wants to be your Abba Father.

Because of God’s LOVE, we can fully trust Him! Surrender yourself to God! Surrender all that you are concerned about to God! Allow Him to direct your ways, your thoughts, your all! Allow Him to pour His love into you and upon you! Knowing God as Father is worth more than you can imagine!

Note: All scriptures are taken from The Living Bible version