Yesterday was Father’s Day, and I hope all of you for whom the holiday applied enjoyed it with warm embraces from your sons and daughters. I hope you heard those three words every dad loves to hear: “I love you.” If so, I hope you replied with an equally emphatic: “I love you too.”
It’s a shame that the word “love” is so misapplied and watered-down in our modern culture. I think, for most, we would define the word as “very strong positive feelings toward someone.” We might say “liking” someone means “mildly strong positive feelings,” but love involves “very strong positive feelings.” On the contrary, the feelings that come out of love do not have to be “positive” at all, but they are “very strong.”
What does a father’s love look like?
I find myself sometimes pausing my work to stare at a picture of my kids. I have them scattered all over my office, and sometimes minutes will pass before I realize I’ve been looking at them, just admiring their handsome faces. That’s what a father’s love looks like. Sometimes I will be sitting in my chair at home, relaxing, and my youngest son will curl up beside me. He’ll have nothing to say. He won’t need anything from me. He’ll just want to sit with me, and he knows that I’m always happy to sit with him. That’s what a father’s love looks like. When we hug our children… that’s a father’s love. When we kiss the crown of their head…that’s a father’s love. When we help them finish a difficult task…that’s a father’s love.
When we discipline them for messing up, when we rebuke them for failing to do what they were told, when we spank them, ground them, raise our voice at them, and shame them in their error…that’s a father’s love.
What parent of teenagers has not had to say: “If I didn’t love you I wouldn’t be angry right now. If I didn’t love you I wouldn’t be punishing you right now. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t try to stop you from doing something that would get you hurt. If I didn’t love you I’d just let you loose to fend for yourself as a child, amidst the wolves of the world.”
Our Father in Heaven loves us, and sometimes, He looks down at us and sees us acting like Him. He sees Himself in us. He sees us being “godly.” On those occasions, He shines His face upon us and smiles. That’s a Father’s love. Sometimes, He looks down at us and sees us doing wrong, sees us disobeying, and sees us failing to look like Him. On those occasions, He disciplines, He rebukes, He even spanks. He doesn’t ignore us. He doesn’t leave us to be consumed by wolves. He guides us, corrects us, and leads us down the path that ends at His warm embrace.
Because He’s our Father and He loves us.
~Matthew