Father’s Day isn’t a day of celebration for every one. Some never knew their father. Some wish they had never known their father. Some have lost a father, and the day is filled with pain and renewed grief. For so many, it’s a day to simply get through.
But for all of us, Father’s Day can be so much more. Even if we have dads whom we’re happy to honor, we can also raise our focus and honor the Father of fathers.
He’s the One who knew us before the foundation of the world and is “intimately acquainted” with all our ways (Psalm 139:3). He shaped us in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). He knows the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30).
He’s the One who calls us into relationship with Him. No matter who we are, no matter our background, no matter what we’ve been through, He holds forth loving arms and says, “Come.” He knows we were once born of the flesh, of two parents who may or may not have loved us as they should, two parents who may or may not have raised us as they should, two parents who themselves needed a relationship with Him. But that was our first birth. He says we can be born again; when we believe in His Son, Jesus, we can be born of God (John 1:12-13).
What better relationship is there? What better Father is there? Who else is able to heal and restore, to give us beauty for the ash heaps of the past? Who else’s arms can we fall into and pour out our heart and know that when He says, “Everything will be alright,” it really will? Who else loves us unconditionally? Who else sacrificed His Son for us? Who else can promise us eternal life and actually deliver?
Though He is God our Creator, God Most High, and God Almighty, He has also deemed it His good pleasure to be a very personal God—Father. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Romans 8:14-15).
When we think about Father’s Day—whether those thoughts bring joy, sadness, or indifference—let us remember our Father in heaven, the source of true joy, of every good and perfect gift, indeed, the very source of our lives.
Heavenly Father, thank You for adopting me into your family, into a personal relationship with You. It’s my desire to grow even closer to You, to know You more and more, to walk in the ways of my Father, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
