Our Perfect Heavenly Father | Matthew 23:9

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. There's three words I want to key on today and they are these three words, acceptance, love and forgiveness. Have you received full acceptance from other people that really

[00:00:22] mattered in your life? Maybe a parent or a spouse or a friend? It seems like because we're sinful and we disappoint one another and we have frail teeth and shortcomings and of course sins. Sometimes we don't receive the full unconditional acceptance from other people that

[00:00:41] we're looking for. I've talked to a lot of people down through the years who said it doesn't matter what I do or what I say, it seems like I can never fully please my parents acceptance.

[00:00:54] And what about love? In many ways the love that we receive from other people is conditional. It's almost like they say I'll love you if or I'll love you when or I'll love you because

[00:01:03] I'll love you if you do this for me scratch my back and I'll scratch yours that kind of thing. The love that we receive oftentimes for other people is dependent on what we do for them.

[00:01:13] And that's frustrating, isn't it? Acceptance, love and forgiveness. There are people in your life that you've disappointed and failed. And yet as a result of that, you've asked for their forgiveness. You've apologized for what you've done. You said I'm sorry over and over again, but for whatever

[00:01:32] reason they can't fully release forgiveness to you. And it makes you feel empty and unworthy disappointed, frustrated and maybe sometimes just downright sad. Acceptance, love, and forgiveness. We can never fully get that here on planet Earth from people who have frailties, shortcomings,

[00:01:58] weaknesses, and sins just like us. But there are someone else who can give those things completely, freely with no strings of tasks. And Jesus talks about that someone here in Matthew chapter 23

[00:02:13] verse 9 when he says this and call no man your father on Earth for you have one father who is an heaven. What's Jesus saying? He's not talking about an earthly relationship between a child and a parent.

[00:02:27] He's talking about the ultimate father. There's only one ultimate father that is God and that is our heavenly father. Now I've talked about acceptance, love and forgiveness. Think about the acceptance, love and forgiveness that our perfect holy father gives to you. You are fully loved and accepted

[00:02:49] and forgiven by God. Think about this. He accepts you the way you are. He overlooks your faults. He says, there's certain things about you that need to be changed, but I love you and I accept

[00:03:03] you just the way you are. You look for acceptance and love from people and sometimes they can't give it because they're not able or they're dealing with their own situations or their things

[00:03:13] going on in their life that make them incapable of giving it or maybe they've never really loved or accepted anybody in life. That's not the way it is with our Heavenly Father. He loves you for the

[00:03:24] sake of his Son Jesus. He accepts you as you are. Now here's the thing, God may cover you with grace. He may cover you with love. He may overlook your faults. He nailed your sins to the cross,

[00:03:35] but he loves you too much to leave you the way you are. He gives you the Holy Spirit's power to help you grow in the wisdom and understanding and maturity of God's words so that you become

[00:03:45] more and more like Jesus and less and less like ourselves as God loves you and accepts you as you are. Here's the incredible thing too. He forgives you fully and completely entirely, totally,

[00:04:00] because of Jesus, because what Christ did for you when He went to the cross, God took your sin, gave it to his Son, allowed him to pay for it once and for all. And as a result

[00:04:12] of that God's unconditional love and forgiveness and pardon is given to you. You have people in your life. Listen to me now when I say this because I know this is true. You have people in your

[00:04:25] life that are not capable of giving you full acceptance, full love and full forgiveness. No one, no earthly person can do that perfectly, but our Heavenly Father can and our Heavenly Father will and through repentance and faith in what He has done for you through Jesus. You are

[00:04:46] completely loved, completely accepted and completely forgiven. What a God we serve, what a father, we worship. He created you, He redeemed you, He protects you, He preserves your life, He sustains you,

[00:05:04] He preserves your faith, He calls you by name, You're headed to heaven, what a great father we have. So here's the thing. Tell other people about this Father who is perfect. This Father who gives

[00:05:17] perfect acceptance, love and forgiveness. They need it, we need it, share it today. And that is today's Daily Truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.