As I was praying about what to write this week, I felt like I needed to share the Heart of the Father with you all. I was preparing my lesson for the CYM class I teach when I was struck by the thought of how many people do not know just how much the Father loves them. The catalyst for this was my reading through The Prodigal Son to offer some insight to my students. I’m sure that most, if not all of you, know the story. A man had two sons, one demanded his inheritance and proceeded to go and squander it. The other obeyed his father and stayed at home. The younger son returned home after a famine hit and he was at his lowest point. When he got back his father welcomed him with open arms and even threw a party for him. Meanwhile, the older son angrily refused to participate in the celebration. He thought that the father loved the prodigal son more because he threw a party for him who squandered his wealth. This sparked jealousy in the elder son who had not even been given a lamb for him and his friends. Then the father told him that all that he has is his. This story has so much depth to it that you could spend a decade diving deeper and deeper into it. But what I want to highlight today is the love of the father.

              In this parable, the younger son rejects his father when he asks for his inheritance early. This breaks the father’s heart, but he divides his property and gives him what he asks for. When his son returned home after wasting that wealth, the father ran to greet him while he was still at a distance. He embraced his wayward son and gave instructions that the best things be brought and put on him and that a celebration be had because his son had returned. See, that throughout the story, the father loved his son with an unquenchable love. Even when that son broke his heart by rejecting him, he loved him.

              With the elder son, the father always loved him too, but this son doubted that because he hadn’t been rewarded for his faithfulness. This was not because of a lack of awareness on the father’s end, it was because of a lack of knowledge on the elder son’s end. The elder son did not know that all that the father had was his and all he had to do was ask and it would be given to him. The constant of this parable is the father’s love.

              This is how God the Father loves us. Whether we’re more like the younger son or the older son, the Father loves us. He loves us so much that He gave His only Son so that we might be reconciled to Him. Every time we go to Reconciliation, the Father runs to embrace us and welcome us back into communion with Him. Every time we ask the Father for help, He is there. His help may not look how we expect, or want, but it comes. And the Father’s help is powerful beyond comprehension. When you call on Him, you can rest assured that He has heard you and that whatever He will do will be good for you.

              I encourage you all to read the parable of the prodigal son on your own and pay close attention to the character of the father. Look and see how he loves his children and wants to be close to them. Then reflect on how much the Father loves you, and how close He truly is. “Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Ask the Father for what you need, seek His presence, and knock on the door of His heart. God will provide, God will be with you, and God will love you.