Fathers Day

This Sunday is Father’s Day, a day to celebrate the special men in our lives. Earlier this week, I shared about how fathers are givers (Matthew 7:9-11). We are more than just protectors or providers (in the strict sense of just providing food and a roof over their heads). We give all of ourselves to our families and to those in our care, in the same way that our heavenly Father gives himself completely to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As the Apostle Paul puts it in the letter to the church in Rome, ‘he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32).

In the context of God as a giver, we can look back over this year in preparation for Next Steps (all-in on the Sep 22nd). God as a giver moves us to explore what things God has given us this year. This might mean giving thanks for obvious blessings that have come from our loving, generous God. This might also mean giving thanks for more of a refined trust, as God has given us a trial or test for our good, even if we can’t yet see it. Our heavenly Father as giver points us to the goodness of God, no matter what our season, because it points us to the grace God gives us in Christ Jesus, his Son, our Lord. Giving thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18) helps us move forward by looking back and seeing how God has been at work in us and through us.