Twice this week on TV I have watched two of the most famous and influentially powerful men on the planet discuss their children. I witnessed an entirely different side of these two. One of them has been performing before packed crowds in sold-out venues for decades, and the other was once the ruler of the free world. Yet as they shared their current plans, viewers were allowed to peek into the most tender place of their hearts.
I listened as one explained that he was giving up his lifelong career so he could be home with his children, and the other shared about being brought to tears upon leaving his child at college. These are men who have entourages following them, people socially bowing to any whim or wish they may express. Their bank accounts afford them the freedom to attain anything their hearts so desire on a moment’s notice. They have the power to make decisions that forever could change the world or write a song that for decades could be the background music for weddings and funerals alike.
Both had an air about them that they owned the place wherever they walked because they did, and they carried themselves with the authority that they could have whatever they wanted. Yet there was one area that they had no control over: the reckless, messy love they had for their children. Their children were leading their hearts in the same way these men led their own world in all other areas.
Such power and yet such unconditional love for their children. Remind you of anyone you know? How about the God of the universe who spoke the planets into orbit and yet longs to have a relationship with us? Not just any ‘ole relationship but one filled with extravagant love. Over-the-top, peaceful, full-of-laughter kind of love. Oh how I revere and respect His majesty and am awe-filled by His power, and yet He tells us that He is our Abba, our Daddy.
Daddy . . . what an intimate title that is. As a loving Daddy, He offers you rest, healing, provision, and—best of all—friendship. What kind of love is this that He would send His son to die?
(John 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Your own personal heavenly Father knows everything about you and at the same time is powerful enough to run the planet.
Here are some great verses that remind us of how intimate our majestic God is with His kids:
Psalms 139: 13—For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then, who are 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!”
Jesus told us in Luke 12:6-7, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”