The Father Heart of God

By Amitabh Singh

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.  Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.  And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.” – 1 John 3:1-3, NLT.

Having being born of Him, John writes here about how He calls us His children. He wants us to recognize this. It is a tragic statement that people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him.

What is it that makes it hard for it to believe the love of God? Is it hurt from the past? Is it pride? Is it plain unbelief?

This is how Paul Harvey writes about what our fathers are made of:

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good--and laughs very loud when it's scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be--and this worries him, sometimes. So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son though he knows it's the teacher's fault. Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's .

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who'll live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. And one day they lose.

I don't know where fathers go when they die. But I've an idea that after a good rest, wherever it is, he won't be happy unless there's work to do. He won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore. He'll be busy there, too, repairing the stairs, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way.

When I think about the love of God the father, here is how I view it. He could have had pity on our helpless situation. But God the Father went a step further. He sent His Son so that whosoever believes in Jesus will be saved. In 2 Corinthians 6:18, NLT, we are reminded:

And I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.