A Good Daddy

 

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My baby boy woke up at 5:03 AM this morning, crying. Like a good Daddy, I got up, stepped into his room, picked him up out of his crib, held him close to me, and rocked him while whispering in his ear how much I love him. In the middle of his crying, he glanced up in the dark to see who was holding him. I looked into his eyes and told him, "It's your Daddy. Everything is okay. I'm going to take care of you." He smiled at me, stopped crying, placed his head on my shoulder and fell back into a peaceful slumber. I rocked him for several minutes, enjoying his gentle snore. After I laid him back down in his crib, I walked out of his room and got to thinking...

Friends and family know that I am a voracious reader, and lately, the author I've spent a lot of time with is Brennan Manning. I've read three of his books: The Ragamuffin Gospel, The Furious Longing of God, and Ruthless Trust. I am currently reading another book by Brennan titled, A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred. Throughout his books, one of the themes that resonates most with me is the reminder that God loves and accepts us as a good Daddy loves His children: just as we are, not as we should be.

For many Christians and non-Christians alike, the Christian God is sometimes imagined to be a capricious, mean-spirited, omnipotent ogre who is just waiting around to bop us on the head. For sadistic fun, He blesses us one day and takes away His blessing the next. If we are living perfectly, He makes us prosper, but if not, we fall into disfavor with Him. He squashes us under His heel to remind us that He is in charge and that we better get our act together before He shows up again. Many of us live in constant fear that God won't accept us, that God loves us conditionally, that God can't stand the sight of us when we screw-up our lives. I must confess that for much of my life, I believed in a God like that without thinking what a crazy concept of God I had.

The Babylonians, Romans, and Greeks believed in gods like that: whimsical, angry, impersonal deities who would sometimes toy with humans just for fun. Jesus' words remind us that God is not like that.

Jesus called His Father, "Daddy" (Mark 14:36), and invites us to do the same. Jesus told His followers that God is a good Daddy; he asked them, "Who among you, if his son should ask for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? And if he should ask for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those asking Him?" (Matthew 7:9-11) Paul, a follower of Christ, told the Roman Christians that, "you haven't received a spirit of slavery again to fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry, 'Daddy, Father!'" (Romans 8:15)

How do we imagine that a good Daddy would go stomping around on his children for the fun of it?

If an imperfect Daddy like me is willing to get up from a restful night sleep as often as needed just to rock my baby boy or baby girl back to sleep...
If an imperfect Daddy like me can't stand to see one of my children hurt or crying...
If an imperfect Daddy like me lavishes my children with hugs and kisses and can't possibly get enough of them in return...
If an imperfect Daddy like me can't stand to be away from my children and misses them constantly whenever we are apart...
If an imperfect Daddy like me would be willing to put myself in harm's way even if it meant giving up my very life on any given day of the week to save my children from harm...

How much more does a perfect Daddy (God) long to rock us when we wake up frightened, comfort us when we are hurt or sad, love on us when we need a good hug, miss us when we are distant from Him? He is willing to do whatever it takes (even humiliation and death on a cross) to save our lives. God is not a big bully. He is a good Daddy. Trusting in Him, we can smile up into His eyes, place our head on His shoulder, and rest peacefully in His everlasting arms.

I want my children to grow up to be kindhearted, loving, giving, just and virtuous children. I want them to follow my rules, to know right from wrong, and to make good choices in life. But, whether they do everything right or screw-up their lives, I will always love them. There is nothing they can do to extinguish my love for them. In the same way, God wants each of us to grow-up to be virtuous adults, following his rules, knowing right from wrong, and making good choices in our lives...
 

...but regardless what you have done or where you are right now, He loves you ...unconditionally, perfectly...like a good Daddy should.