If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that my little man, Stone, is my world. Being the father to him that I didn’t have is my number one goal, every single day. But standing on the other side of fatherhood has shown me a hard reality: I’m a broken man, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t love my son perfectly.
You don’t have to be a father to understand this concept. It’s easier to see in the broken relationships that mark most of our lives. People go back on their word. People walk away. People, who had the best of intentions, often fall short. Human relationships are often agreements determined by sometimes unspoken rules. Meaning, that even the most serious relationships still have conditions.
This was the only kind of relationship I knew for most of my life. Until I met Jesus, truth be told, seeing, realizing, and understanding my son’s love for me helped me understand Jesus more. For the first time, I actually felt fully understood and fully accepted. I knew that my perfection did not determine His affection toward me. When I see my son, I see this childlike love and affection. Real love. It’s overwhelming how children can love so unconditionally. And one day, I finally realized, this is how I should love God. Like a child to a father, my son began teaching me about loving God and receiving love from God. I began to want to love God in the same way that my son loves me, and to accept God’s love in the same way that I accept the love from my son.
When I see my son, I see this childlike love and affection. Real love.
A relationship with Jesus isn’t conditional. So often, we reflect our wounds from people back onto God, but He’s not like that. Jesus is not going to break up with you. Jesus is not going to be the one to divorce you. Jesus is not going to be the one to turn his back on you. I finally have accepted this unconditional love and know that there’s nothing that I can do to get God to turn his back on me.
All we have to do is keep pressing, and accept His forgiveness because He really forgives.
Accept his grace because He’s really gracious.
Accept his mercy because He really has it.
God is not some flesh person that you have to worry about whether or not they’re going to be safe for you anymore because you’ve done this, or because you’ve said that or because you thought that. Jesus is a safe place for everything that you are. And knowing that changed everything for me.
When I look at Stone, I know everything that I want to be for him. God actually is all those things to me, and for that, I’m forever grateful.
Stick close to the perfect father.
Live love,
Ty