The Father's Love, and Fathers' Love (Part I)

It is irrefutable that God loves mankind. The Bible speaks volumes of God's love for us. Verses very often quoted are those of John 3:16-17

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

The extent of God's love for us is unbounded. Paul wrote that there was nothing in this universe which could separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39).

Those who have obeyed the Gospel enter into a very special relationship with God which no other class of people on the face of the earth enjoy. In Paul's epistle to the church in Galatia he discusses this special relationship.

Gal. 4:4-7 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Those who have been redeemed (have obeyed the Gospel) have been adopted by God to be His children. As God's children we can now call to our Father in heaven, crying, Abba, Father. Abba is an Aramaic word for father, carrying a connotation of intimacy. Our own children will call us daddy, or mommy: no one else's child can call us by these terms, because their use is reserved exclusively for our own children. So, too, the term Abba is reserved: only children of God can rightfully call upon Him in this manner, and Christians are those children, having been adopted by God through obedience to the Gospel.

This is not to say that we stop showing reverence and awe toward our Creator. God is holy: His name is to be hallowed. It would be a grievous error to treat God with disrespect or dishonor. Nevertheless, as Galatians teaches us, Christians enjoy a very special relationship with the Father.

God also shows particular consideration to the welfare and development of His children, just as you and I would also be concerned for our children.

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

The Christian ought not to feel put out when God chastens him. It is a true sign of God's having adopted him to be His son! What is the alternative? If God did not show his concern for our development through trials and difficult times, then we would be illegitimate, as it were. Furthermore, do we not remember that our own fathers would chasten us when we needed discipline and instruction? And to what end was that chastening designed? Was it not for our own benefit? No discipline is fun to endure while it is occurring, but after the pain and anguish of the time, we grow. As it is with the Father in heaven, His chastening of us yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God loves us as sons, and wants us to grow, “. . .unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” (Eph. 4:13b). Consider James 1:2-4, 12 and 1 Pet. 1:7.

Curtis A. Little, Royse City, TX

Curtis A. Little
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