Articles
The Love of the Father
The Bible teaches us much about God, telling us who He is, His character, His deeds, and His promises. The various descriptive names of God should have meaning to those who are His, and maybe none more personally endearing than the name Father.
As we know, a father is one who has children, and God is no different — but His children are different; where we usually think of children as the physical offspring of the father, God's children are spiritual. While the nature of the two is different, the term is used purposefully; that is, many things having to do with earthly, physical children should be applied to spiritual children of God. Maybe if we better understood the meaning of being called God's children, we would appreciate it as the blessing it is to have God as our Father. The apostle John certainly thought it was a blessing when he wrote, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1); indeed, what love it was and is!
Before we can talk about God being our spiritual, heavenly Father, we must go back to who we were before we were so called; in doing so, we will see both the wonder of the transformation and the measure of God's love. What Scriptures teach us is that it was “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10); no, we were not 'good' people who deserved some reward. In spite of our status, God still loved us and gave His Son to die for us that we might have eternal life (John 3:16). He wanted us to be saved.
That death also made it possible for us to become His children; God “predestined [planned ahead of time] us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Eph. 1:5); God “sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as son” (Gal. 4:4, 5); those who have faith in Christ as the Christ and Son of God “received the Spirit of adoption” and “are children of God” (Rom. 8:15, 16).
This incomprehensible gift of now being called His children would help explain why God would even bother doing anything to save us — or even create us! You see, God knew even before we were created that all men would sin; we know this because Paul tells us God saved us “according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Tim. 1:9), and Peter adds that Christ “was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Pet. 1:20). God established His plan for forgiveness and salvation before time began because He knew that we would sin. The fact He created us anyway — knowing every man would turn away from Him and sin — is an amazing point in itself. So why did He create us?
The skeptic will say God is some egocentric being who just wants everyone to bow down to Him and continually praise Him, but I would beg to differ. Let us go back to the description of God as our “heavenly Father” for a minute; does a father have children for the sole purpose of his ego? I would say, for the most part [and by a wide majority], the answer is "no." Speaking for myself, I saw each addition to my family as another individual I could love! I saw it as an honor and privilege to take on a new responsibility to bring them up, provide for them, protect them, and teach them the things they needed to know, believe, and do that were for their good. Having children is not all about praising and submitting to the father [though that is certainly a part], but about demonstrating selfless love for others.
If anyone is still skeptical about God, His motives, or His intentions regarding us, let us allow His word to tell us, remembering that this is the God who does not lie (Titus 1:2).
Our Father Has Given Us All Things. In this physical, material world, fathers provide for the needs of their children, and give them everything they need [maybe not what they want, but what they need]. Jesus, in fact, once asked, “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?” He then makes a point about the heavenly father: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matt. 7:9, 10). [Remember, this is in the context of when Jesus said the one who seeks would find (Matt. 7:7, 8).]
The fact is, God does give us all we need. Paul once asked, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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?” (Rom. 8:31, 32) The fact is, there is nothing we need that God has not provided. Paul put it plainly: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).
Our Father Loves Us Unconditionally. The fact that God loved us before we were His children (cf. John 3:16) tells us His love is not dependent on us never failing. In the parable of the prodigal son, we see the unconditional love of the heavenly Father, as represented by the prodigal son's father, who waited for his return and embraced him and welcomed him back with no strings attached when the son did come back (Luke 15:11-32). When we turn away from the Father and when we stray, He awaits our return, too, and will welcome us back when we come to our senses and repent of our transgressions and confess them to Him (1 John 1:9).
Now, even as we see God's love is unconditional, we must not confuse unconditional love with unconditional forgiveness; God has always had conditions of forgiveness [under the Old Law and the New]. Some have, unfortunately, taken for granted the love of God and assumed that He would forgive them without any conditions on their part; such is merely wishful thinking and has no basis in His word.
Our Father Has Prepared Us For Our Spiritual Battles. Any father worth his name will prepare his children to face the world, to defend his or her self, and to learn the things that will help them do well in life. How much more so has our heavenly Father given us what we need to face the world, to defend ourselves against the attacks of our spiritual enemy, and given us all we need to find spiritual success.
Paul reminds us God “will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13); He has not left us defenseless, but offers armor fitting for the fight (Eph. 6:10-18), but we must take it up and put it on if we expect victory.
Within His word, too, we find the very words given for our spiritual good. James pleads, “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas. 1:21); to say the least, it is for our spiritual good. When Jesus answered every temptation of the devil with, “It is written” (Matt. 4:4), He revealed to all mankind the means of successfully confronting and defeating every temptation known to man.
Our heavenly Father created us not to be mindless slaves, but that He might have children to love. —— Steven Harper
