I have a friend who goes through the same ritual each time he visits his dad. First he bounces up the front steps and says “Dad; I’m home!” and gives his dad a hug and a kiss. He immediately goes to refrigerator and gets some cookies and then to the freezer to get some ice cream; because he needs some. Then he gets some dry roasted nuts from the secret spot in the cabinet because he needs some. And then after all his needs are met, he sits down in the living room so his dad can ask; “How are you doing? How is your wife? How are the kids? How are things going at your church? How can I pray for you? What do you need?”

My friend truly believes that this is how God the Father wants us to come to Him; like children into the arms of a Father who wants to feed us and love on us! And, after our needs are met, He wants to ask us about how things are going and how He can help us.

Most of us would love to approach God the Father like that; but we believe that we need to be quiet in His presence, and that He is too busy to meet with us; after all, we should be glad He sent us Jesus. We believe we need to wait until a certain time or season to approach the Father; or that He is waiting for us to jump through some hoop to get His love.

My friend, nothing could be further from the truth! In Hebrews 4:16 we read; “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (NKJV). The Greek word for ‘boldly’ means: frankness, bluntness, publicity; by implication assurance: – boldness of speech, confidence, freely, openly, plainly.

The climax and the goal of the New Testament is the revelation of the Father and how much He longs to be with us. If you stop with just knowing Jesus, you’re going to stop short of the revelation and the relationship that Jesus died to bring you into. I believe that If Jesus was standing here with you right now; He would be saying to you personally, “Today, I’d like you to meet my Dad; the Father you’ve not yet known.”

The love need that each of us has is so deep that only the Father can meet it. In Jeremiah 31:3 we read; “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” In other words; you “have-never-not-been-loved.” To go from feeling unloved to the reality that you “have-never-not-been-loved” is revolutionary. The Father chose you in love before the foundation of the world.

Say that to yourself right now, “I have never not been loved.” The phrase may not be grammatically correct, but it is a spiritual reality even if you have not ever experienced it before. Say it again to yourself, “I have never not been loved.”

You and I hear that we are saved by grace, and grace alone. But often we relate to the Heavenly Father based on what we do and don’t do, such as whether we pray enough, or read the Bible enough, or witness enough. We live under condemnation instead of the reality that He loves each of us; individually! You, my friend, are precious to Him! He calls you beloved. Say it again to yourself, “I have never not been loved.”

My friend, Our Heavenly Father’s love isn’t based upon what you or I do; He loves us because He is love. If you read Matthew 3:16, you will see Jesus being baptized. In verse 17, you will read ‘And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”‘ If you study that passage and the passages before verse 17, you will discover that Jesus had not yet really done anything spectacular; this was before His earthly ministry started. Yet, the Father was well pleased. Why? Because the Father’s eyes your identity comes before your function. Jesus was and is His Son and He was and is well pleased. And that is what your Heavenly Father wants you to hear today: that you are His Beloved child whom He loves.

Let Jesus take you to meet His Dad. Romans 8:17a tells us; “And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” This is not some intellectual concept, but a submitting of yourself to Him so that He can be a Father to you.

You may be thinking; “Yeah, but I’ve blown it, I’ve done such awful things; He would never want to be with me; it can’t be that simple! I must earn my way back to the Father!” Although you may feel that way, it is simply not true. The only thing that you are really required to do is to confess your sins (which means to agree with what God calls sin) and confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death.

Jesus tells a story in Luke 15 to let us know what that relationship with Father God looks like. The prodigal son leaves his earthly father with his father’s money and wastes it in various ways. At some point, the son comes to his senses and finds his way back home. In Luke 15 v.21, the son has a speech prepared, ready to give to his father. In the speech, we see that the son wanted to be treated not as a son, or even as a slave (both a son and a slave would live under the father’s roof), but as an employee of his father.

However, in verse 22 we read that this gracious father will hear nothing of his son’s speech, but instead the father runs to reestablish the relationship and speaks to the servants: My son is home! Get the robe, the ring, the sandals, and kill the fattened calf.

The ROBE meant restoration of position! The RING meant restoration of authority! The SANDALS meant restoration of dominion! Shoes were exchanged in the cutting of covenants. Shoes also meant that the son was free to walk around his father’s estate. By putting these three items on the son the father was saying; Slave? NEVER! Employee? NEVER! You’re my SON, and everything I have is yours.

Luke 15 verse 23-24 tells us that the fattened calf was prepared as a covenantal dinner to re-establish the father’s relationship to the son. Why had the calf already been fattened? The father had been waiting for his Son to come home.

Today, Jesus wants to take you to His Father. He is waiting for you to say “yes” to come meet His Dad. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). And in John 6:37,“All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will in no way cast out”. Say “yes,” won’t you, to Jesus when He says to you today; “Come Meet My Dad.”

“Come Meet My Dad  ” Rev. Tom Oestreich © 1995 River of Hope Ministries. All Rights Reserved