TOPIC:"The Greatest Father of All"
"And, lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17)
Sometime ago I read about an old sea captain who left home at an early age for the sea. He decided to return to his home in Maine. The captain had sailed around the world guiding his ship and crew safely through many dangerous obstacles. Returning from a long and outstanding career, he was now going back to the waters he knew best and loved as a young boy.
But as his ship entered the Maine Harbor, it struck a group of rocks and crashed. Then the author of this story made this comment: "Though he had mastered the seven seas, he could not maneuver safely the rocks at home. That has been true of many a man." And then he made this observation: "Men take pride in knowing how to navigate a good business deal, make wise investments, climb the ladder of success, yet crash and concede failure on the home front."
That statement is true of many fathers today. They have failed on the home front. They don't have a Christian relationship with members of their family. And this will never happen until God becomes their Father through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now the Bible reveals that there is only one perfect Father who is God. The pages of the New Testament give us a beautiful glimpse of the marvelous relationship between God the Father and Christ the Son. On three different occasions the Bible records these words of the Father to His Son: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." It is a relationship similar, and yet different, that I would plead for each father to have with their children on this Father's Day. God grant that it may happen!
As we focus on fatherhood today, let me make five observations about God the Father, the greatest Father of all.