The Christian Family…Fathers
Luke
15:20
5/4/20
Pastor John C. Berg
“He got up and went to this father.
While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with
compassion. He ran, hugged his son and
kissed him.
This is your daily devotion
for May 4th. Let me tell you
a story. Some of you will recognize this
immediately, others maybe not. It’s one
of the best stories from the Bible, a story told by Jesus. A young men selfishly asked his Father for
his inheritance. He left home and wasted
the money on, well if this happened today, we would say “sex and drugs.” When he found himself starving to death he
returned home to apologize to his father and ask for forgiveness. Jesus said, While he was still far away, his father saw him and
was filled with compassion. He ran,
hugged his son and kissed him.
It's not what he deserved. At the
very least this prodigal son had earned a tongue lashing and a probationary
period to prove that he deserved to once again be part of the family. And that’s what makes this perhaps the Bible’s
greatest story of grace and a best loved picture of who God is. It’s also something else.
We spent two weeks thanking
God for the blessings we may sometimes overlook. There are other blessings that we tend to
notice and be thankful for more often.
Family is one of them. Many of us
are getting to spend more time with immediate family and less time with
extended family. Today we begin a new
series of devotions on the Christian family.
The parable of the prodigal
son is also the Bible’s most striking picture of fatherhood. Jesus says the father saw his rebellious son
while he was still a long far away. How
could that possibly be? What are the chance
that this father just happened to be looking in the right direction at just the
right moment? Virtually zero. Which means he was doing this all the time,
looking at the horizon hoping to see his son so he could and kiss him. So he could not mention his son’s sinful
actions at all, but welcome him home with a party.
Fathers, we often find our
identity in being the providers for our families. We take seriously the duty of being the
disciplinarian so that we don’t raised spoiled, entitled kids. Those are important roles for us. But there is another much more important role
we see in Jesus’ parable. It’s the role
of grace giver. Our children should see
us men of grace and forgiveness. It’s not
spoiling a child to respond with hugs and encouragement when he sins, especially
if he already has tears in his eyes. He knows
he sinned. He needs grace. And when we provide that to our children we’re
helping them to also see their Heavenly Father in the same gracious light.
I know men. I know that all too often you have yelled at
your children and seen fear in their eyes.
I feel the same guilt and shame. Remember
that God is your gracious Father too. Run
to him. He will welcome with open arms
of forgiveness. Amen.
I highly recommend the book “Being
Dad: Father as a Picture of God’s Grace” by Scott Keith.
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