1 John 3:1-3 “Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.”
We live in an age when childhood is under attack! Now proud parents are being warned not to post photos of their cute kids on social media. lest sexual predators and sexual traffickers target those children and abduct them from schools and playgrounds and other public places. Americans in many cities have also found themselves as victims and targets of rioters. It is highly likely that many of these rioters came from broken homes where they were abused or neglected. Never having known the love of a father, these poor young people find it easy to attack others as a form of payback for the lack of love in their lives. It is one of the shameful acts of the American church that we have ignored young people outside our walls.
There are many parts of the world in which poor families literally sell their children into slavery, sometimes for very small amounts of money. We have friends who worwk with a ministry that rescues children from slavery to fishermen on the Volta Lake. Only God knows how many small children have drowned in the pursuit of the work forced upon them after their parents have sold them.
God’s view of children and childhood is entirely different from the experiences many have had as children. First of all, we must understand that God is a good Father. Say the word “father” to many people of any age and you might be horrified at their reactions. Some people have only known fathers who beat them, cursed them, belittled them, or even sexually abused them. Some children have been tortured by their fathers. Some children have watched their fathers beat or even kill their mothers. And much of this has come about because we have refused to acknowledge God as the ultimate Father or to learn what true fatherhood means.
In the Bible, God calls himself “a father to the fatherless.” The Biblical view of fatherhood means that a father is the head of the family, the protector, the defender, the provider. It is the father who is to discipline children and to reward them. Psalm 68:5 says, “A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.”
When we choose to follow Jesus and confess our sins and ask him to come into our hearts, we become God’s children. And as a good Father, God begins to lead us and to guide us and help us and even to discipline us. One problem for many of us is that if we have never known the love of a good father, we don’t have a clue as to how to behave. We remain willful, disobedient, and rebellious. It is only because God is patient and loving that He bears with us. But God DOES bear with us. Why God should trouble Himself to love us is both a question and a miracle, but He DOES love us. And if we love Him in return, we will want to please Him in everything that we do.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for loving us, even though we don’t deserve it. We confess that we are sinners and that we cannot help ourselves. Please forgive our sins and help us to follow hard after you all the days of our lives. Thank you that you sent Jesus to die for our sins and that because of his death and resurrection, we can have eternal life with You, our true Father. Amen.
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