The Loving Father

Song of Songs 4:7

“You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.”

For those of you who do read these emails, this is one aspect of God most people miss.  It is like the movie Home Alone where Kevin is told his entire life that the neighbor, the old man, killed a kid and threw him in the trash.  Little Kevin is trained to think of this old man as something to be afraid of, unapproachable, and scary even.  Well, Kevin figures out the truth later on in the movie that the old man is a nice person who needed a friend.  Even more, he finds out that what others have told him was a lie meant to scare him. We see a whole new side of Kevin and the old man as the movie progresses.  

You can go your entire life thinking of God this way. You might see Him as unapproachable, mad, spiteful, intolerant, and mean.  The real version of God is spelled out in Song of Songs.  He sees his church as beautiful.  In chapter 4, he describes his bride as having no flaw and that she has stolen his heart with one glance of her eyes.  He says that she is a garden fountain flowing streams of water down from Lebanon. (verse 15) The Lord loves us so much that he even gave his only son to die on the cross so that we could spend eternity with Him.  Just like the sacrifice of countless soldiers over the years choosing death so that their comrades could live; it is that kind of love. 

We, as Christians, must stop viewing God as a dictator and start seeing him as a loving father.  The Bible says that we have stolen his heart.  Today, ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand the real version of God, the one that gave His son, the one that laid his life down for his church.  He really loves us more than you know. 

One last analogy for today.  We always hear of parents sacrificing money, time, decades of life, retirement funds for their kids.  They also give when it is not deserved or earned, like responsibility, allowance, education and so many other things.  As a parent, this kind of love is embedded into us.  God is that same way.  He gave when we did not deserve it.  He sacrificed when we did not earn it.  He loves when we don’t love back.  He is there when we don’t want Him to be.  He cares when we ignore and reject Him.  He is God. He will have His arms open every time.

Prayer: Father we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how much you really love us. Help us to understand your loving nature and I pray that we are equipped to pass that along to others who have a false view of you. Your Word says the banner over us is love (Song of Songs 2:4) and I thank you for loving us so much that you sent your son Jesus so we can spend eternity with you. In Jesus name, amen.