We parent because He first parented us.
1 John 4:19 reads “We love because he first loved us.” When this is read carefully, one can understand that without God’s love it is impossible to love. Any person’s ability to love another on this earth is the result of something that already happened to them. They were loved. Fortunately, Bible truths are not limited to Christians. They apply to all mankind. If someone loves in this world, it is the by-product of that person being loved by God, whether they believe in God or not.
But let us take even more from this verse. How does God love us? What does that mean? What does the process of loving us look like? Jesus introduced us to God as Father. It was a concept so outrageous that it triggered the conspiracies to kill him. Yet Jesus’ most dangerous message became our most important message – God as Father. This answers a huge question about how God loves us. He parents us. Perfectly.
Now, let’s look at 1 John 4:19 through this new lens:
“We parent because he first parented us.”
If I am not parented by God or do not accept parenting from God, I have a very slim chance of offering good parenting to my children. Unless we fathom how God parents us or better yet how God does NOT parent us, we are leaving our parenting to the wind of good intentions. Our children deserve more than well-intentioned parents. They deserve to have parents that are fully loved, nurtured and supported themselves.
Reflections:
1. In what ways do I see God loving me on a daily basis?
2. What characteristics of God remind you of fatherly characteristics?
3. What does parenting mean to you?
4. How has God parented you this week?
