Caring fatherly love
Fatherly love is not just a word. It has many aspects and can be experienced in different ways.
A few years ago I read in a Christian magazine: A son had committed injustice. Together with other comrades, he sprayed large areas with graffiti. Resistance spread. The perpetrators were identified and found. The authorities' instructions: The perpetrators had to remove their crime themselves. The extraordinary happened. A loving father and his son took part in repairing the damage.
1. Fatherly love of a special kind
Paul calls himself father.
...but to admonish you as my beloved children....For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15b,15b (ESV)
2. A letter to his friend Philemon
Intercession for an escaped slave. For this reason, I would like to ask you something, as an old man who has now also been thrown into prison because he proclaims the saving message of Jesus Christ.
I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.
Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. Philemon 1:10+11 (ESV)
He won't come back as your slave, you will have much more in him: a beloved brother, he belongs to you - as a human being and now also as a Christian.
3. Fatherly care – love
So if I'm your friend. Then pick up Onesimus. As if I were coming to you myself. If there is any damage, or if he owes you anything, bill me. I'll pay it. Dear Philemon, give me this joy and fulfill my request.
According to Philemon 4-20
4. Caring is a matter of the heart
Be there for each other. Consciously accept responsibility. Give away love, kindness with good deeds. Do what feels good.
5. World-embracing fatherly love
For God so loved the world,[9] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV)
Jesus came into our world of his own free will. He accomplished salvation for a broken world. And when he came, he brought with him treasures that the world did not have: love, forgiveness, and the offer of starting anew, even when all seems lost.
Do you want to call God your personal father?
Then receive Jesus into your heart.
Author: Edith Waechter
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Image 2: https://unsplash.com/de
