June 20, 2021
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And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty
- 2 Corinthians 6:18
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. – Psalm 103:13
Happy Father’s Day to all out there who have had the joy and challenge of raising someone up in life and faith. We all can acknowledge that we are less than perfect in our up brining, and less than perfect as we impart knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. It is truly by the grace of God that each comes to know the life everlasting that we have found in our Lord Jesus as he is the only perfect love and gift from God our Father.
The idea of God being a Father to us all is challenging for those who didn’t know the love of an earthly father, and so many I have known through the years have struggled with this understanding. Even when we turn to the scriptures of God having compassion, we read words like “for those who fear him,” and wonder what kind of love requires fear. In actuality there are two words in the Hebrew language that often get translated as “fear” the first is pahad which is generally used when someone sees something that causes fright, and to which the Angel of the Lord often responds “fear not.”
The other word that is used is yir’at which also means to have reverence or awe. It is this word that we should understand within the context of a compassionate God who John would write in his first epistle, “God is love.” The God who is love is compassionate and kind, forgiving sins, and removing transgressions, we are in awe of him, because we do no deserve such love, yet God see fit to love us just as we are.
Today, the greatest gift any of us could receive is to understand and feel that we are loved for who we are, as we are. We need not to change to be worthy of love. If we are to change, it must be to become more like our Father in taking on the image of love that we know through his son, our Lord, Jesus the Christ.
May we all know God’s love more deeply today, and every day.
Grace & Peace,
Sam