Word Wednesday: Fathers Love

Forever, and a Day, and the Weekend

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Matthew 6:9
" Pray, then, in this way:'Our Father who is in heaven,Hallowed be Your name.

Men, love does not always come easy to us in our rugged, individualistic, and He-manish American Society.  Real men do not cry.  Shrug it off.  Suck it up.  Don't let your emotions show.  It is a sign of weakness.  Have we ever heard these sayings and more as boys and took them to heart as men?  How often have we erected walls around our hearts keeping those who would love us out and wrecking meaningful relationships?  Do we play the " tough guy " with our children without ever showing them love?  Do they know that it is OK to let their guard down and be real because they have seen us do it?  Do our wives know we love them not only in word but in deed?

When did we become so emotionally impoverished that we fear one of the most glorious things we have been created for; to have relationships both with God and those around us?  Love is from God and we, as believers, have Him as a Father and as an example.  If we know how to give good gifts doesn't He also? Where did we learn how to give from?  Him.  He is the foundation of all our relationships and because of Him we know how to interact with His other creations.

" How much do you love us? "Mindy and I asked.

" Forever, and a Day, and the weekend, " replied our four year old son, Jackson.

His childlike faith and love were expressed in the most meaningful way he knew how.  Love between Father and son should last forever and to make sure of that he tacked on an extra day.  When asked about the weekend he simply explained that daddy was home and we were all together as a family.  Together in a loving family relationship ordained by God.

As children of God we can look forward to the moment when we will forever be with our Father in Heaven.

Forever, and a Day, and a Weekend.

Father in Heaven, help us to know your love and to reflect that love into the lives of those you have place closest to us.  Let us be your representative here on Earth and the type of loving fathers and husbands you would have us be.

The dead and the living

 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 

 Ephesians 2:1

These doors lead down a hallway for those hospital patients recovering from their stay in the critical care wing and they had doctors, nurses, and therapists to attend to and care for their needs.  They had various maladies and were in differing states of wellness, but they all had one thing in common: they were alive.  Once they passed from this life to the next they were ushered out and into the place of the dead apart from those still alive.  

Those not in Christ have everything  in common with the latter and nothing in common with the former.  While the patients can and often are nursed back to health the dead are beyond hope and treatment.  Such are sinners apart from the grace of God, dead in there sins and trespasses, without hope in this world or the world to come.

Romans 3:11
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD

Colossians 2:13
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh

Dead men neither receive medical care nor do they respond to outside stimuli.  Dead men cannot and do not repent.  They are deaf, dumb, and totally incapable of pleasing a Holy God. The lost cannot seek after God apart from Him and their morality is a vain attempt appear alive and holy.


Ephesians 2:5
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved)

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God

It is by God's amazing grace that we have been saved and brought to life.  This dead and wretched flesh that once dominated and enslaved us is brought to life by faith through the free gift of grace that is from God.



Romans 6:6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin



Our old selves, the old person that we were, has been crucified with Christ so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. That old nature, the carnal man, is dead and buried with no power over us.

Romans 6:16
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

James 1:14-16

 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 

Why do we sin? Because want to and find pleasure in it for a season.  Our own lusts and desires carry us away far from the One who bought us.  It is inside us....it is a cancer that has metastasized to every organ and member of our being and when we give ourselves over to it death is the result.  Physical death.  The end of our lives upon this earth and all that entails.  Are we living daily for and submitting to Christ's Lordship with the resulting righteousness or are we giving in to sin with the resultant death?


John 14:15
" If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

John 14:21
" He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

Do you love Him?  Are you keeping His commandments not in an effort to earn salvation but out of a heartfelt love for the One who has redeemed you?  Is Jesus both Lord and Savior?

1 John 1:9-10

 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

We as believers are not perfect and sin is so ingrained within us, it so permeates the flesh we live in, that until His return or our death we will deal with its effects upon our lives, but He has promised to be faithful to forgive us when we confess.  Not only forgive but to cleanse us from all the unrighteousness that has accumulated and clings to us in this world.


Have you been saved by Grace?  Are you living for Him, by Him, through Him, and for His glory?  Is he your Lord and do you love His commands?

Walk of the Living Dead

        And as it is appointed unto men once to die, 

but after this the judgment:
Hebrews 9:27

This is our lot in life as sons of Adam, Birth and Death.  The span of years offers both good and evil, the sublime and horrific as all things pertaining to life are found between those two little words.  A Mother’s kiss, a Father’s stern rebuke, hurts by friends or the simple joy of a warm spring day with the clouds drifting lazily by in a deep sea of blue.  The loss of loved ones and the birth of new ones are woven into this tapestry that we call life.

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