A Father’s Love

God’s family is the best family. Again, even if your own family did not care for you, bear in mind that God wants you. You are accepted; you are highly favored; you are the object of His special care and affection. Everything He does revolves around you.

Paul said to the Corinthians, who were not exactly top notch Christians, “All this is for your benefit” (2 Corinthians 4:15, NIV). Everything God does, He does for us. You do not get conceited when you realize this fact. Instead, you become humble. There is no room left for arrogance when you see the grace of God. It is significant that, before His crucifixion, Jesus’ last prayer with His disciples was for those who were His followers, as well as for those who would follow afterward (see John 17:20). That prayer concerned our relationship with God as our Father, and it concluded:

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them” (John 17:25–26, NIV)

Jesus makes God known to us as Father. The Jews had known God as Yahweh for fourteen centuries, but the only Person who could introduce Him as Father was His Son. Six times in this prayer for His disciples, Jesus addressed God as Father (see verses 1, 5, 11, 21, 24, 25).

When Jesus prayed, “And [I] will continue to make you known” (verse 26), He was saying that He would continue to reveal God as Father. Then, we come to the purpose of this revelation: “In order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26, NIV). God has exactly the same love for us as He has for Jesus. We are as dear to God as Jesus Himself is. However, there is another aspect to this. Because Jesus is in us, we can love God in the same way that Jesus loves Him.