Perfect Love | Good Good Father - Week 1

Good Good Father - Week 1

We're starting a series today called Good, Good Father, and we are talking about my favorite metaphor of God. God is our Father, our perfect Heavenly Father. And we're not just asking is God our Father. We're asking is God a good Father?

The question the world is asking about God is: Is God good?

In order for God to be good He has to be perfectly just and perfectly loving. Being just or being loving isn't enough. You have to be both. But most people are asking from a very emotional place. So they really need to know.

In Romans 5:8 Paul says:
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

That's how good He is. The reality is, calling God good is a massive understatement. God isn't just good. He's perfectly good. God is the definition of good. Why? Because

God is Perfectly Loving.

There's a love story of a couple in a nursing home, and the old man is telling the old lady the story of their lives. The problem is the old lady has dementia, and she doesn’t realize the story he’s telling her is their story.

Their story starts one summer when the girl’s family is vacationing in the hometown of the young guy. When this girl who is from a rich family falls in love with this boy who is from a poor family, the parents of the girl do not approve of the relationship so they decide to end the summer vacation early.

But as they are leaving town the boy says to the girl… “I’ll write to you every day.” And he does, but the girl’s mom throws the letters away every day. Eventually, the couple does get together, and live happily ever after, and that’s why they’re in the nursing home together.

At that moment, the old lady has a flash of cognition. When she realized what had happened she said, “How long do we have?” He says last time it was only five minutes, so for five minutes they enjoyed each other‘s company. But as quickly as the cognition came, the dimension came back, and she found herself in the arms of a stranger, and she screamed in terror. Who’s story is that?

No, it is not the Notebook. It is our story

Okay, it is the Notebook, but it is also our story.

God loves us perfectly, but we forget His love so I pray that you have a moment of clarity, a moment of cognition from within your dementia, and see God's perfect love for you.

I John 4:16-18
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. 18 If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

God’s love makes us less dependent on the approval of others for happiness.