THE FATHER'S LOVE

 How many times in the written Word of God do we read about the fact that Christians are the children of God?   John 1:12 tells us “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become “children” of God”. 

I had the pleasure of taking one of my little granddaughters to “school” this morning.  (Actually, it is day care, but she calls it school).  Prior to that however, she got up and we watched some sort of cartoon on the T.V.  Then she wanted to play ball in my bedroom.  After that she decided she wanted to ride the riding lawn mower, so we cranked it up and rode around down in the back fields for a while.  Then she wanted an apple.  Then she wanted to play in the toy box.  Next she decided that she wanted to watch Mickey Mouse.  After that she went to the front porch swing and said “Bump swing”, meaning that I was to sit in the swing and she was to sit in between my legs and we would swing and watch the cars go by out on Poplar Springs Road.  Next, let’s ride the mower again…it went on for more than an hour and a half.  Finally, it came time to go to school and I ask if she wanted a biscuit.  Of course she did, so we drove down to Jack’s and sat at the table and ate our biscuits and drank our Dr. Pepper.  (She had a straw and I had a straw and we drank out of the same cup.  What fun).  We drove around in the truck after that and sang “Nana’s music” which includes songs like, “Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ba-ba Black sheep, and Old McDonald”.  She calls them “Nana’s music because my wife bought all sorts of children’s CD’s to play when they ride in her car.  This morning we borrowed one of Nana’s CD’s and were singing “Nana’s music”. 

Why am I telling you all this?  Because I wanted you to see that for the biggest part of two hours this morning I did anything that my little granddaughter wanted to do.  If left to my “wants” I would have had a bowl of cream of wheat, drank my coffee and got to work.  But because I love my little granddaughter so much, I did what was important to her and what made her happy. 

Do you see where I’m going here?  We are God’s children and because we are God’s children He cares for us, He loves us and He wants to do things that matter to us.  It might not be important in the eyes of an eternal, all knowing, ever present, God but because it is important to “me” His child, He wants to do those things that mean something to me.  Whew!  That’s mind blowing. 

Not only will God provide us with those things and do those things for us but He gets pleasure in doing them.  He gives to His children out of a heart of perfect love.

As I rode back to the house from dropping of Kinsley at school I listened to the local gospel radio station and heard a new song by the Collingsworth Family entitled “It matters to God”.  That song spoke to the exact thing that had transpired in my life this morning.  I had done things with Kinsley because those things mattered to her.  As I arrived home and stepped out of the truck God spoke to my heart and said, “Do you realize how much I love you”?  I couldn’t hold back the tears.

There is a scripture in Matthew 7:11 that says, “If ye then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE, will your  Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him.”

I hope you will stop for just a moment today and simply soak in the love that your Father in Heaven has for you and offers you.  He is on our side.  He is interested in what is important to us.  Do you know, could you know, just how much He loves you?