Father’s Day

A word particularly to you fathers today: Be struck by what you’re about to do.

I have two sons, David and Steve. We have worked together, played together, performed music together, talked a lot about lots of things, eaten countless meals across the table from each other for years. I can’t imagine being responsible for having David or Steve die a terrible death. I cannot imagine what it would take to bring myself to ask them to do that.

It’s no wonder Paul says, “A good man might die for a good man . . . , but God commended his love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7a, 8). “God loved the world so much he gave his only Son so whoever trusts in him would not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Parents love their children a lot. God evidently loves us an awful lot to have his Son do what these emblems picture to us. Let’s receive them as striking reminders of what the Father called on his Son to do and what his Son did.

Hymn: “I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God,” by William J. Gaither