Do You Love Your Father?

John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"

If you've believed on His name, or put your trust in Jesus to get you to Heaven, then you are now His child. He is your Father. Is God a good Father? Well duh! That obvious. Of course He's a good Father, I mean, He IS God! So what makes Him a good Father?

1. He Cares for Me.
I Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." I have some friends that had their dad walk out on their family. I have some friends that don't even know their dad. I have a friend that had his dad steal his car! Not God! God cares so much about me, He knows how many hairs are on my head. I don't even know that. He knows more about me than I know about me. He wants to hear my prayers. He wants a relationship with me.

He wants to give us good gifts - Matthew 7:11
He has given the gift of Heaven to us - Ephesians 2:8-9
He will never leave us - Hebrews 13:5
He loved us first - I John 4:19
God proved His love for us by dying for us - Romans 5:8

2. He Chastens Me.
I let my 15 month old daughter do whatever she wants which means I'm the perfect dad. NOT!!! I don't let my daughter put her finger in a light socket. I don't let my daughter eat ice cream and donuts all day, every day (although, she did polish off 5 of those small powdered donuts by herself this morning. She left me proud and starving). I don't let my daughter walk out toward the street. If I let her do those things, I would get WORST DAD OF THE YEAR award. I chasten or correct my daughter to teach her and protect her.

When we stop focusing on God, and we start getting involved in sin, God will bring some things into His child's life to chasten or correct us. James 1:15b says "... sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." God has used a police officer giving me a ticket as a form of correction. Another time, it was minor car accident. "But Bro. Matt, that's mean." No, that's love. Hebrews 12:6a "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,..." I am who I am today because of events like those. That ticket cost me about $200, but it saved me a lot of regret. That car accident really scared me! But it got my attention, and I got serious about God! I stopped hanging around some bad friends that were helping me get into tons of trouble.

3. He Challenges Me
In John 14:15, Jesus says "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Most people will say "yeah, I love God!" but their actions say that they don't love God. If you love God, you will keep His commandments. What are some of His commandments?

I John 3:23 "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

If we love God, we will put our trust in Him to get us to Heaven. If we love God, we will love one another. This means we will build others up, not tear them down. We will help, forgive, and honor others and we won't hurt, curse, or lie to others.

So do you love God?

Glory! That's Good!

I like to eat! I've got a birthday coming up March 12 (hint, hint), and my wife and I will probably go to one of my favorite restaurants: Olive Garden! I love Italian food. I love pasta. I love their gnocchi soup. I love their breadsticks. I love their mints!

When I go to Olive Garden, I usually start out with the gnocchi soup. The soup is pretty good, but the best thing about it: FREE REFILLS! I can eat as many bowls of soup as I want. I usually get one for an appetizer and one To Go. I almost always order the tortellini. I don't know what they fill those little pasta squares with, but it's goooooooood! And then the mints. Those wonderful brown and green candies. I once had a waitress give me a whole To Go bag full of those mints! I gave a very good tip that day.

I Corinthians 10:31 says "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

When I go to Olive Garden, it is easy to eat to the glory of God. I am happy to give God the glory while I'm eating.

"Praise God for these melt-in-your-mouth breadsticks!"

"Thank God for Olive Garden!"

"Hallelujah, that's good!"

It is easy to give God the glory while eating. Somethings, however, are not so easy for me to give God glory for:
1. Shopping: I hate the crowds, and my wife takes 20 minutes to decide blue or light blue.
2. Sitting in line forever at a fast-food restaurant. I'm there because I want fast food.
3. Driving during rush hour. People don't know how to drive.
4. Being sick: I hate being sick!

But according to the verse we just read, we are to honor God in everything we do!

That must have been hard for Joseph. Joseph was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused when he chose to do right, thrown in prison for something he didn't do, and was forgotten about for another two years after helping out the king's butler. But even going through all of that, Joseph still honored God.

Attitude

Joseph's attitude toward everything that he went through was this: God is in control! During each phase of Joseph's life, he brought glory to God. It's easy to honor and glorify God when everything is going good, and when we're on the mountain tops of life. But God wants glory in those valleys too. That's the whole reason we were created.

Revelation 4:11 says "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

We were created to bring honor and glory to God. Joseph went through so much more than we could probably imagine, and he still gave God the glory. So next time you're eating at a nice restaurant: Give God the Glory! and next time you're sick, or you've been sitting in the drive through for 20 minutes: Give God the Glory!