Good Father

​We read the story of Abraham and can’t help but chuckle at some of his bizarre decisions. He gives up his wife, saying she is his sister, to the Pharaoh of Egypt. He decides he will help God to give him a child by taking his wife’s maidservant as a wife. Again, Abraham gives up his wife to another king calling her his sister. (And creepy enough, Sarah was his half-sister!) 

And yet, the writer of Hebrews exalts him.

​By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

​There is a lesson in the way the story of Abraham is recalled. They don’t recall his failures but instead recall his success. It’s a given that men will fail. We often can’t get out of our own way… we trip ourselves. Abraham was remembered for his faith and even for the right things he did. This is good news for those of us who have botched the plan more than once. We are not remembered by our good Father for all the times we did it wrong, but instead are remembered for all the times that Jesus did it right!

In this we can glean another lesson. Behind all our good and bad deeds is a good Father who is redeeming the world. He intended a world that would reflect his goodness and He is making it so. He is blessing the nations. He is changing hearts, one by one. He is using the very creatures who messed it all up to make it all right again.

On Father’s Day we can be reminded that we have a good Father. His goodness overshadows our shortcomings. As we watch Him clean up our messes time after time, we can learn to praise Him for the redemptive work that He is doing. As we cheer on these works, and marvel at His wisdom, we find ourselves imitating His wonderful ways. We find ourselves being transformed, slowly but surely, into the creatures that He desires.

Happy Father’s Day!