LISTEN ONLINEWalk around any bookshop and you’ll discover an array of books on parenting. Advice abounds on a multitude of childrearing topics. Yet, surely, our children’s greatest need is to be loved. That’s how they measure their worth within the family and how they know they belong. Love creates acceptance, engenders trust, builds character, and gives security. Love is not a fickle feeling; it’s a living reality.
The apostle John wrote graphically about the extravagance with which our Heavenly Father loves His children. God the Father neither skimps nor leaves us wondering. Instead, He lavishes—smothers, heaps, pours—His love on us. John tells us, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1) Later John states, “That the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world” (4:14). That is love demonstrated, not merely expressed—poured out on us by Christ when He died on the cross for our salvation. It’s what transforms sinners into children of God!
And just to make sure we get it, that we understand we’re God’s children, John adds, “And that’s what we are!” (3:1). Rest in it. Don’t doubt it. Believe God loves you, and embrace all He has for you, for His love didn’t stop at the cross. It continues each and every day until we reach the Father’s House . . . and then for all eternity.