This post may contain affiliate links from Amazon.com or other companies mentioned, which means that if you purchase through them, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful. I appreciate your support
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Cor 13:4-7 ESV
Today the world celebrates Father’s Day. As usual, I see the many tributes on my Facebook feed to those honoring their fathers as amazing examples in their lives. Fathers who were good representatives of the Heavenly Father.
I didn’t have that kind of father.
Yes, he and my mother were married for 52 years before she passed away in 2012, but he wasn’t very present in my life. I’d have to say he was an old-school kind of dad who saw his main job as a provider but didn’t really take much interest in the other areas of my life. Thankfully, through my relationship with Jesus, and Father God, I’ve learned to honor my father even though he wasn’t perfect.
A father is a girl’s first example of what to look for in a husband and a boy’s first example of what a man should be. But like me, many of you haven’t had that example.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells us what love should look like. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy or boast and it is not proud. But because 1 John 4:8 also tells us that God IS Love, when substituting the word love for God in 1 Cor 13:4-7 we get a picture of how God demonstrates His love for us.
He is patient and kind with us. He is not envious, boastful, or proud. He is not self-seeking and always has our best interests at heart. He’s not easily angered and keeps no record of our wrongs. He forgives our sins as far as the east is from the west and rejoices in the truth; when we walk in the truth of who we are in Him. He protects us and most of all, He never fails us. He is a good, good Father.
What is your image of God as a Father? Do you know that He loves you unconditionally and nothing can ever change that? Many of us know Jesus but we don’t understand who God is as our Father. If that’s you, ask Father God, to show you who He is to you as a Father.
Prayer: Father, draw me closer to You, into your perfect love. 1 Cor 13: 4-7 TELLS me what love should look like, but I want you to SHOW me in a tangible way as I cultivate a deeper day-to-day relationship with you. I open my heart to you and ask you to come in and show me who you are to me as a Father.
Here are some more articles about God as a Father.
God’s Perfect Love: 5 Things He Wants You to Know
5 Scriptures To Remind You of the Father’s Perfect Love
How to Honor a Less Than Perfect Dad
© Deborah Ruck @ As Bold As THE Lion blog
Leave a Reply