The Bible calls God our Heavenly Father. As our Father, God loves, cares, disciplines, protects, and provides perfectly for all of His children (those who have believed in His Son, Jesus Christ).
Throughout the Bible, God is referred to as a Father (Psalm 89:26; Matthew 6:9) who made people in His own image (Genesis 1:27). God’s attributes as a Father include being good, merciful, kind, loving and compassionate (Psalm 103:8, 116:5). God is a Father who protects and provides for His children. While God is slow to anger, in His love He disciplines His children, training them up to live in His righteousness and share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:5-11). God is a faithful and forgiving Father even when His children are unfaithful and rebel against Him (2 Timothy 2:13, Daniel 9:9). The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is a beautiful picture of our relationship with God as a Father to a son. God is the Father that runs to us, embraces us, and celebrates when we come to our senses and come back home to Him.
In the Old Testament, we see God as Father to the nation of Israel (Jeremiah 31:9), a people His chose to be His children, although they continually rebelled against Him. In the New Testament, we see Jesus, the only begotten Son of God the Father, who come to earth as the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Jesus told His disciples, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9). In Jesus, we see His love for His Father, His obedience to do His will, and His love for people. Jesus’ greatest demonstration of love was His sacrificial death on the cross for our sins, even while we were sinners and children of the devil (Romans 5:8). His death and resurrection made salvation possible for all people and those who put their faith in Jesus become children of God the Father and join His family, the church (John 1:12). Jesus is the only way for people to get to God the Father (John 14:6, 1 Peter 3:18).
Some of us may wrestle with the thought of God being a Father because of our own relationship or lack of relationship with an earthly father. Sin has caused many fathers to abandon or abuse their children. The sin of fathers has destroyed marriages and ruined families. However, God is a perfect Father who loves and takes care of all His children. God is a Father to the fatherless. He cares deeply for the widow and the orphan. God is trustworthy who will never fail us or abandon us in our time of need (Hebrews 13:5). God cares for us more than we can even care for ourselves and knows us better than we know ourselves (Luke 12:6-7). The good news is that God loves you and sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to save you from your sin (Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:10). “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). Jesus died and rose again from death to pay the full penalty for your sin. By faith in Jesus, you can become a child of God and belong to a family called the church (John 1:12). As Christians, it is comforting to know we have a Father in heaven who loves us, will never leave us, takes care of us and actually wants us now and for all eternity.