Becoming a new parent- or in my case, becoming a new grandparent, can give us a renewed awe for God’s love.

I remember becoming a father for the first time and the experience gave me a firsthand glimpse of how deeply God must love me, and each one of us. My wife, Tammy, and I have three kids, and each birth gave me another opportunity to revisit this truth.

And now, I look into the face of my first granddaughter, Heidi, and it’s like my spiritual eyes are being opened all over again. It changes the way I see God and even how I worship, because I know how much I love this child without condition, without reservation. I know that love is a reflection (a pale reflection, but a reflection nonetheless) of how God sees and loves me.

One of my favorite quotes, and I forget who it’s from, but it basically says, “there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I have done that can cause him to love me less.“ God knows us- all of our defects, our mistakes… All of the areas where we fall so short, and yet He loves us. He is a perfect father, and his love for us is a perfected version of my love for this baby.

So, today, no matter where you are or what you’ve done… Let that truth soak in. God is the perfect father. And he loves you unconditionally.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are…”  1 John 3:1