Because He Loves Me—and You Too
One of the best things about being part of a local church is being able to volunteer in various roles. No matter the size of the roles, the primary purpose almost always circles back to creating environments that help believers reenergize their faith in Jesus and help unbelievers become overwhelmed with the presence of Jesus for the very first time.Very often, the most basic way to help create an environment is by volunteering in children's church so parents of small kids can be more present in worship and in receiving God's word through sermon. While such a role may feel like a chore to some people, I always get great joy out of the activity.For starters, I enjoy being able to help parents be less distracted while worshiping God. And secondly, I thoroughly enjoy the nuggets of truth that occur anytime I'm helping with children's church. This past Sunday, one of those nuggets of truth came from the mouth of my own child.For the second service at our church this past Sunday, I was volunteering in children's church—specifically the preschool age group. My oldest daughter is in that cohort, so I was in her presence most of the morning. One of the other volunteers was playing with her when she began motioning at me as if to point out I was her father. At this point, I was intrigued and began listening to their conversation.The volunteer then jokingly asks, "Are you sure? How do you know that's your dad?"My daughter sharply and assuredly replies, "Because he loves me!"As you might guess, my heart turned to mush as that was one of the sweetest things I've ever heard said about me. Her statement wasn't necessarily eloquent, but it was full of confidence. She knew for a fact that I loved her, and that was all the proof she needed to confirm I was her father.
Related Post: He's a Good, Good Father by Brian Maisch
Oh, how I wish we all could be that confident when we start to question if God is a loving father or not. He most definitely is a loving father, and his holy word makes that loud and clear whenever our memories become foggy.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV)Ephesians 1:3-4 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (ESV)
Have no fear, friends. God the Father loves you. He never stopped loving you, and he'll never stop loving you. Never ever.