Last week I had lunch with my World Race coach Phil Rouchard. We talked about what God was doing in our lives and the lives of our friends. As we were wrapping up our conversation his phone began to ring. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to see who it was, and suddenly his face lit up. “O man, my daughter is calling!” he said as he proudly showed me the screen, pointing at the caller ID photo. “Isn’t she beautiful? I love her. I have to take this… “Hey Baby! Really? Rebekah (his other daughter) made Homecoming court? That’s awesome. I am so proud of her.” I was blown away. What an incredible display of a father’s love!
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.”-Galatians 3:26
If Phil loves his daughter that much, imagine how much more the Father in heaven loves his kids.
Now I don’t think God has a phone, but if he did, I think he would have a similar reaction as Phil when we pray to him:
“Look, my daughter is calling… she’s so beautiful.”
“Look, my son is calling… I’m so proud of him.”
“My kid is calling… man I love him so much.”
However, sometimes we think that God will have another reaction when we pray to him:
“My daughter is calling… she hasn’t read her Bible in months.”
“My son is calling… He has really screwed his life up.”
“My kid is calling… I’m disappointed in him.”
Those are all lies. There is no shortcoming that God sees in us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Psalms 103:12. There is nothing we can do for God to earn more of his acceptance either. He said to Jesus, “this is my son in whom I am well pleased” before he had begun his ministry or performed any miracles.
I believe he says the same about us today. There is nothing we can do to earn or lose his love.
