It is of no minor significance that one of the many names for God is Father. Not only is He our perfect Heavenly Father, but He also shows fathers and mothers how to relate to their children. He is the ultimate role model. Here are four ways God the Father illustrates how to be a loving parent.
Loving Parents Respond to Their Child’s Necessity
Loving Parents Respect Their Child’s Humanity
Loving Parents Reprimand Their Child’s Immaturity
Loving Parents Reinforce Their Child’s Identity
Loving Parents Respond to Their Child’s Necessity
Matthew 7:7-11 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Our Heavenly Father is willing and waiting for us to come to Him with our requests. In the same way, our children should know they can come to us with their needs without fear.
That doesn’t mean we give them everything they want. Children need to learn the value of hard work. But in the same way that our Heavenly Father invites us to “Come, ask, seek, and knock,” we as loving parents need to have the same spirit of openness toward the needs of our children.
Loving Parents Respect Their Child’s Humanity
My heart skips a beat when I read Psalm 103:13-14: “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”
It reminds me that my Heavenly Father understands me. When I fail, He’s there to wrap His arms around me and let me know that He accepts me despite my failures. He recognizes that while I’m on my way to holiness, I’m not there yet. No matter what I do, I’m His child.
Similarly, we have to take a step back and remember that our children are human. If we give them an impossible standard, they will only become discouraged. Even if we’ve grown up in church and know the Bible, we are still frail, flawed human beings. It’s the same with our kids.
Parental love is unconditional, and so is God’s love. No matter what a child of God has done against Him, or feels he or she has done that cannot be forgiven, God still loves that wandering soul. He will never quit loving His own. He will keep pursuing them until they finally give up and He has them back. He is that kind of God.
Loving Parents Reprimand Their Child’s Immaturity
In Hebrews 12:5-11, the writer relates the human father/child relationship with our Heavenly Father’s relationship with us as His spiritual children. I want to touch on three qualities of the Lord’s discipline that transfer into the way we discipline our children.
God the Father corrects us because He loves us. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For the Lord disciplines those he loves” (NLT). Loving parents don’t enjoy disciplining their children. It’s hard to do, and it is almost easier not to do it when we’re in the moment. But because we love them, we discipline them. Sometimes we have to do the hard thing to keep a child from failing. That’s how our Heavenly Father deals with us.
God the Father corrects us for a purpose. Later in the chapter, verse ten says, “God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness” (NLT).
God’s correction aims to refine us and raise us to a new level of righteousness as believers. In the same way, disciplining children helps them learn right from wrong and eventually make wise choices for themselves. Penalizing wrong choices or behaviors is not being unkind; loving parents use it as a tool for instruction in righteousness.
God the Father corrects us so He can rejoice in the result. “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” (Hebrews 12:11, NLT). When we see our children walk with the Lord, all the effort and pain involved in guiding them becomes worthwhile.
Loving Parents Reinforce Their Child’s Identity
Finally, our Heavenly Father teaches us to affirm and reinforce each child’s distinct identity. “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17).
In this single sentence, our Heavenly Father taught us perhaps one of the greatest parenting lessons: affirming our children is essential to their success and future.
We need to bless and reinforce our children when we have the opportunity. We need to tell them how gifted they are as individuals and how proud we are of them. Don’t assume that they know!
We only have a short time in this world to make an impact on our kids, but the depth of that impact is incalculable. In the same way that God the Father lovingly nurtures and guides us as His children, we, as loving parents, can touch the hearts and lives of our children. By the grace of God, I want to do that. I know you do, too.
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