Dad’s Love

So, we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.                                                                      I John 4:16

I recently spoke with a client who shared that he feels inadequate, and that he doesn’t matter. He knows spiritually and intuitively that this is not true, but he struggles with the negativity that it brings to him regularly. We also talked about his relationship with God, and the struggle he has with “pleasing God” vs. simply “trusting God.”

Trying so hard to please God was like his efforts to please an abusive and distant father. His father is long ago passed away, but the concept of pleasing a father who was not able to be pleased affects this man’s view of God.

As we talked, it became clearer to this man how differently God loves us than a human father does. We human fathers will inevitably fail at some aspect of parenting no matter how hard we try. But we need to be reminded that God’s love for us is transcendent, and it is not based upon performance.   

So, take heart fathers. You do the best you can, and you are probably doing much better than you think at being a dad. The best thing you can do is remind your kids that God loves them more that you do- and you love your kids a lot!

Prayer: Lord, you have loved us with an everlasting love- what a gift! Amen