Yesterday, on Father’s Day, I called my father and told him how much he meant to me. I posted a photo of us on Facebook with a caption that told him again that I loved him. I posted a tribute to my husband, who’s been the wonderful father I knew he would be, and a note of thanks and love to my father-in-law.
It wasn’t until late in the day that I realized I hadn’t honored or celebrated my heavenly Father.
Honoring the earthly fathers in my life is right and good. But forgetting—completely forgetting—to honor my heavenly Father?
You and I should honor God every day. It doesn’t necessarily have to come in the form of Facebook posts. It definitely isn’t going to come in pictures of Him holding us on His lap when we were little. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) But it should take place somehow. And not just because it’s Father’s Day. We should honor Him every day.
We need to take time to thank Him for being such a wonderful Father. To tell Him how much we love Him. To tell Him how much He meant and still means to us. To thank Him for all the things He’s done for us. To tell others we’re proud to have a Father like Him.
Maybe we didn’t have a close relationship with our earthly father, so thinking of God as our Father doesn’t stir up pleasant emotions. But remember this, as Louie Giglio has said: “God isn’t the reflection of your earthly father; He is the perfection of your earthly father.” Everything you can imagine you would want a father to be, God is that, times a billion. Celebrate His perfect love and caring for you, which you have the capacity to appreciate even more because of the lack of it from your human parent. Rejoice that He is everything you ever wanted a father to be. Celebrate Him for it.
Maybe we don’t feel particularly close to God. Let’s honor and celebrate Him anyway. If we wait for our feelings to bubble up before we praise Him, we’re not going to be saying very much, very often. We know the truth; let’s celebrate it and Him, no matter how we feel!
On the other hand, maybe we have a great relationship with God. Let’s tell Him how grateful we are! Let’s tell Him all the great things we love about Him. Don’t we love it when our children praise us for some quality? Let’s bless God’s heart by praising and thanking Him. He loves to hear from His children, too.
Let’s make it a point to honor God every day, not just when the calendar says it’s Father’s Day. Let’s celebrate Him and all of His wonderful goodness on a regular basis, not just when he does something “big”.
Why not begin right now?
Psalm 66:8—O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. (KJV)