“See and savor the lavish love Abba, Father has poured out on us in the Gospel! How great is God’s love for us? So great he has made us his own children, and has given us all the legal rights and delights of his firstborn Son, Jesus. Indeed, Abba’s love is so great that on the Day Jesus returns, we will finally see Jesus face to face, and we will be made like him. Because of this certain and profound hope, let’s live and love to the glory of God all the way Home.” Paraphrase of 1Jn.3:1-3
Heavenly Father, we don’t just need a Father’s Day but a Father’s Life. Especially when we realize you are the Father we always wanted—the only Abba who can fill the Father-shaped vacuum you built into the core of our being. Our best earthly fathers give a preview and taste of what it means to be known and loved by you; and the most broken earthly fathers make knowing you all the more necessary and precious.
Thank you for adopting us, forgiving us, and robing us in Jesus’ righteousness. Thank you for freeing us from our slavery to sin and our orphan-like ways. Thank you for giving us the Spirit of Sonship, a secure place in your family, and an inheritance that can never spoil or fade.
Thank you for being the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort—who rewrites our stories with a hand of mercy and the ink of grace. Thank you for promising to complete the work you began in us (Phil.1:6). Until that Day, thank you for only disciplining us in love—never shaming, chiding, or withdrawing from us. Thank you for loving us as much as you love Jesus, as much as you ever will—right now in this very nanosecond. Hallelujah!
Thank you for grace to forgive our earthly fathers who didn’t love us as you intended—including those who broke our trust and hearts. Thank you for our dads who did and do love us well. In all things, every scenario, each our father-stories—take us further in and further up into your love, Abba. So Very Amen.