When we look at God the Father and the many times in scripture we’re referred to as His children and He as our Father, it becomes apparent that He has set the stage for one of many worldly examples used to teach us about godly living.

Let me preface this by saying I am in no way putting my son on blast. He is an amazing kid, but he is a kid. He has taught me wonderful life lessons that I’d like to share with you.

Whenever my son behaves at school and does well with his school work, I just glow with pride. It feels great. When your child does what he’s supposed to do, it’s a great feeling. So we reward them. We don’t have to. They’re supposed to do these things, but it encourages them to do it more. When he misbehaves and we find out, it’s sad. It frustrates us because we realize how that reflects on us.

Wow. So I then imagine how my heavenly Father must feel when His child goes astray after professing to be a believer. How frustrated my God gets when I fail to behave like a Christian. Do I ever wish to bring shame upon my God? Yet He blesses us even though we don’t deserve it. We don’t deserve rewards when we are merely doing what we are supposed to do…our reasonable service. Then I imagine how joyful God feels when our lives bring glory to His name. Indeed, He glows with pride when His creation brings Him glory.

Kids disobey. Boy do they disobey. They receive instructions and then choose to do what they want to do. Sometimes they know there are consequences and they still disobey. They exasperate us by constant pushback. They break rules they know, causing us to say things like, “you know better.”

Wow. Imagine my heavenly Father as I read clearly in His word what is expected of me and then I do what I want to do… We know there are consequences for sin. We also know the peace that we lose when we know we’ve sinned against God. Yet, at times even that isn’t enough to keep us from making a decision to disobey God. We fight God on things that He commands and get mad at God when things don’t go our way. God sees us act this way and imagine how exasperated He must feel!

Kids have short attention spans. They focus on something for a moment and then you lose them. Some more than others, kids get distracted. You instruct them to do something and they’ll get started…until something more fun catches their eye. Drives you crazy as a parent doesn’t it?

Wow! Ever took your focus off of God? You seem gung-ho for God, reading and living for Jesus…then you lose focus. You lose interest. How about you clearly see what God has instructed you through His word. You begin to follow Him closely…then something distracts you. Now you’re doing something else. Now you move God down your list of priorities. Now how do you think God feels when you do that?

As a parent, one of things you realize through all the headaches, challenges and struggles you still love them with all your heart. Even though you know they don’t deserve it sometimes, you give your kids what they need. You also give them what they want. You would sacrifice even your life for them. Right?

Guess what? Even though we are a mess, even though we choose to disobey God, even though we get distracted by the world… God loves us with all His heart. Even though we don’t deserve it, our loving Father has given and continues to give us what we need. He answers our prayers and gives us what we want. And yes, our loving Father would die for us. In fact, He has. God became flesh and endured suffering leading to death on a cross. In spite of what we’ve done, God sends His Son to save us from our sins.

So as parents, we can understand how God feels about us at our best and at our worst. We understand how God feels when we disobey…lose focus… But as children and parents we understand the magnitude of His love…and the magnitude of His mercy and grace. Sure, kids can learn valuable lessons from this. But I learn very valuable lessons from my experience as a parent.

I hope you learn from this too about our loving Father. I pray it helps you in your Christian walk…

Listen to this new banger from Erica Campbell called I Luh God.