No Greater Love

Wow! I just viewed some of the surprise homecoming videos of military dads returning to their families. What joy and jubilation as they were reunited, especially fathers and children. Their facial expressions run the gamut of astonishment, crumpling into tears of emotion and disbelief, to screaming, laughing and joyful crying. One would have to be made of stone not to cry with them.

Then there are the heart-rending personal stories aired of families separated and (sometimes) reunited in the recent tornado tragedies. When we hear casualties as only statistics, it’s sad, but when we hear the first-hand accounts of those involved, it becomes personal and we feel their pain and loss, or in all-too-few cases, their joy.

Families were God’s idea. In fact, in Ephesians 3:14-15, it says, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” We, as Christians, are part of God’s family! We are named for Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother! Whether in heaven, or on earth, we are still part of the family.

In fact, the Bible is full of family imagery in our relationship with God, who is our true family. He is called, Father, Husband, and is compared to a nurturing mother. Jesus is our Heavenly Bridegroom. We are God’s children!

The earthly family is under attack today at its very foundation, the institution of marriage. But families are the building blocks of our society, little microcosms of teaching, rearing, training, nurturing, governing, caring, loyalty, and cooperation units without which our culture would crumble.

Just as the children loved and depended upon their returning dads, we are told in the Bible that we can go boldly to Him with our needs. “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him,” Ephesians 3:12. Jesus called God, Abba, a term equivalent to our word, Daddy. And He is just as joyful to see us as a father his child. Actually, earthly love pales in comparison to His love for us, His family.