FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART June 17, 2024

It was a bitter-sweet experience looking at all the social media posts for Father’s Day this past weekend. It was fun seeing the sweet pictures of families celebrating time together with their fathers. Yet, it was sad to see the posts from those who, like me, have lost their dads from this life. At the same time, we know that those who died in the Lord are not truly lost. They have merely gone ahead of us, awaiting our coming, for the glad reunion that will take place one day.

Preparing and preaching the Father’s Day sermon started me thinking about one of my favorite passages of Scripture. In 1 John 3:1, we read: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God!” It truly is a wonderful privilege to be able to call Almighty God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, our Father. It is a testimony to His rich love for us, that He would elevate us from the level of being a product of His creation to become a part of His family.

In the next verses, John speaks to those who have trusted in Jesus as their Savior, when he writes: “Beloved, now we are children of God.” The Apostle John makes it clear that this transition from a creature to a child does not take place somewhere in the future, but at the very moment that we give our hearts to Christ. While we may not know all that this involves, we do know that when Jesus returns “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” This hope, which comes from being God’s children now, will cause us to strive for purity in our lives. Wanting to be more like Jesus, we work at being pure, “just as He is pure.”

I am grateful for the amazing grace and love of our Heavenly Father, that He would provide for us the way to become children of His eternal family by offering His Son as the sacrifice for our sins. As difficult as it is for me to understand how children can reject their earthly fathers, it is mind-boggling to me that anyone can know of the Father’s love and choose to live without Him. My prayer is that anyone who reads this and has not trusted in Christ will make that decision today and join the Father’s eternal family!

Serving in love,

Bro. Jim