Father.

​Father.

This title ascribed to many men of the earth through history can have a different meaning and impact on people, depending on what type of father they have or have known. Some of us have Fathers that we love and respect, others may not even know who their father is or have a father that is abusive or has abandoned them. We typically define a father as: a male parent, a man who has begotten a child. The fact is that not all fathers are alike. It has been said that “Many a man can spread his seed, but do they stay the course and cultivate their children?”

God is a Father also. He is THE Father of all fathers and the greatest example of how an earthly father should aspire to be…..loving, caring, strict, a great teacher, provider and friend, a trustworthy guide and fortress of protection, honorable and moral. God is all of this and more.

James 1:17 states “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

For Jesus, "Father" was his favorite term for addressing God. It appears on his lips some sixty-five times in the Synoptic Gospels and over one hundred times in John. He knew His Daddy intimately and wants us all to come to Him as our FATHER who art in heaven. If God then is our father, that makes us His children. God LOVES His children and shows it in a myriad of ways in our lives.

Some fathers in this world step in, either when they adopt a child or where divorce or death has left a mother alone with her children and he chooses to marry her. These step-fathers or adoptive fathers show us how much a man can love and care for another man’s children. Any step-father worth his salt will make every effort to be the man he is supposed to be to both his new wife and her children, making them a solid family.

God too is our adoptive Father. Ephesians 1:5 says “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus …” God draws us to repentance, faith and baptism so that we may become co-heirs with Him, sons and daughters.

The point is that God is THE BEST FATHER, who, through His love for us, gave us earthly fathers, charging them to take care of us in this physical realm.

​So today we celebrate Father’s Day in an encompassing way, including Father-God and all earthly father’s and step fathers. God certainly deserves our praise and worship for being such a great and Holy Father EVERY DAY and our good, earthly fathers deserve a day of recognition and appreciation. It is not, nor ever was, easy to decide to become a parent. Sacrifice and grace and loving patience are needed and required.
 
So,
 
Happy Father’s Day to God and all the men whom He has called to father His charge of parenthood.

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