As Dearly Loved Children
The other day I had a good conversation with my kids about our relationship—I wanted to once again make sure they knew I unconditionally loved and accepted them. As a pastor, I see a lot of people who have “daddy issues” that cause much pain and anxiety in their adult lives. I want to be intentional about shaping the relationship I have with my children so that they can engage a healthy future.
Today as I was reading and Life Journaling the Bible, the following two scriptures stood out to me. The first was Psalms 94:17-19. “Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”
While there are people who go through life without a care in the world, I more often encounter those who have seasons where they feel like they are about to die, or that they are slipping fast, or who sometimes have some measure of anxiety within them.
That’s when the Lord can give you help; that’s when He supports you with His unfailing love; that’s when His consolation can bring you joy.
The problem is, many don’t get close enough to the Father to allow for this kind of encouragement to happen. They see God as a distant King, not as a present and caring Father, so they have a difficult time truly experiencing the love that they com cam4 com intellectually understand God has for them.
The second scripture that grabbed me was Ephesians 5:1-2. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
My kids can do really good (and sometimes silly) imitations of me, because they have spent so much time around me. They feel comfortable climbing all over me, and at 4, 7, and 10 all of them will often still grab my hand when we’re walking. I’m far from a perfect father, but they do know that they are dearly loved.
So when there is pain or anxiety or failure in our house, we don’t pull away from each other; there is comfort, and closeness, and empathy. Whatever dysfunctions we have as a family (and every family has some), we work hard to not just be related people living in the same house, but to know one another deeply enough that we can identify the little unique characteristics that others may miss.
And the closer we are to God, the more we will be able to identify His characteristics, and be able to imitate them. Because if we can’t know or imitate the Father because we feel distant from Him, we will have a hard time accepting His support and consolation when we’re facing anxiety or disaster, or even death.
Knowing you are a dearly loved child will make all the difference in the world!