Today is Father’s Day, a tradition that began in 1910 in Spokane, Washington. It is a day that honors fathers not only for “siring” children, but also for their sacrificial love and hard work raising those children. Good fathers provide for their families, protect them, and teach them – sometimes by words, some-times through discipline, and always as role models of how men should live.
If both Karen’s father and my father were still alive, we would definitely honor them today, for they both were exemplary fathers who fulfilled their duties of raising their children to take their places in the world.
But the chief reason we are grateful to these men is that, in addition to the physical and social benefits they provided, was that they taught us and showed us what faith in Jesus Christ is all about. And in doing so, they told us about our other Father, the heavenly One.
For if we take a day to celebrate our earthly fathers, we certainly ought to spend time every day to honor our heavenly Father.
In fact, Jesus himself taught us how we should pray to God, calling him “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). He also taught us that our heavenly Father . . .
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- loves us so much he sent his Son to die for us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
- gives us good things when we ask “If you then, who are 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!” (Matthew 7:11).
- desires us to be one with him, even as Jesus is “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).
- showed us his nature and character in the person of Jesus, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
- seeks us like a Father who welcomes a lost son; “his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:11-32, here verse 20).
- sends his Holy Spirit as our guide and comforter, “the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26).
- speaks to us with words of truth, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).
- does not want anyone to perish, “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14).
- judges the glory given the Son, “Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge” (John 8:50).
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In addition, Jesus spoke of our being able to love the Father closely, not just as a distant judge. He called his heavenly Father, “Abba” (Mark 14:6), a term of endearment with the meaning of, “Daddy.” (Hence the title of this blog!” Later, Paul will tell us, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6, also in Romans 8:15.)
In the Ten Commandments, we are commanded to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12). Paul referred to this commandment in Ephesians 6:2, where he said, “this is the first commandment with a promise.” The Church has always recognized that this commandment bridges the two “tables” of the law: the one loving God, and the other loving our neighbors. This is because our parents are not only our neighbors, but also authorities over us, acting on God’s behalf in our lives.
Part of the way our fathers perform a godly duty is to discipline their children, not as a punishment, but to teach them good conduct. Hebrews 12:6 teaches us, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Likewise, Hebrews 12:9 says, “Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?”
Unfortunately, many children grow up without their fathers being active in their lives. They miss the example of good fathers, they often lack discipline that shapes their values, and their families struggle with provision and safety. It may be hard to love God as Father when a child grows up with an abusive or unloving earthly father, but God offers to be their “Abba” and supply all their needs.
In fact, God is Father of us all, so let us love and honor him, not only on “Daddy’s Day,” but every day, for we know that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Read: Luke 15:11-32