Jesus frequently spoke about God as Father.

For some people, that word is comforting.

For others, it isn’t.

Our experiences with earthly fathers can shape how we think about God. Some have experienced loving fathers. Others have experienced absence, rejection, abuse, or disappointment.

But God is not simply a larger version of our earthly fathers.

Jesus reveals a Father who is perfectly good.

God is the source of our existence.

Paul told the people of Athens:

“He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
— Acts 17:25

God knows you completely.

Psalm 139 says:

“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.”
— Psalm 139:1

And yet the God who knows everything about you invites you to know Him.

Jesus told a story about a son who walked away from his father, wasted what he had been given, and eventually returned home.

When the son was still far away, his father saw him and ran to meet him (Luke 15:20).

The father didn’t wait for his son to prove himself worthy.

He welcomed him home.

Jesus used this story to show us something about God’s heart toward those who turn back to Him.

God desires reconciliation.

James writes:

“Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
— James 4:8

God’s fatherhood should never be confused with permissiveness.

A loving father doesn’t tell a child that everything they do is good.

God corrects.

God disciplines.

God calls us to holiness.

Hebrews tells us that God’s discipline is for our good, so that we may share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:5–11).

God’s love doesn’t mean that He leaves us as we are.

He loves us enough to change us.

Perhaps the clearest picture of the Father’s love is found in Jesus.

Jesus said:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”
— John 3:16

Paul says that when the time had come, God sent His Son into the world (Galatians 4:4–5).

Jesus did not come because God stopped caring about humanity.

He came because God cared enough to rescue us.

The cross was not an accident.

It was part of God’s rescue plan.

Through Jesus, people are invited to become children of God.

John writes:

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
— John 1:12

Paul describes this as adoption:

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves… rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.”
— Romans 8:15

Christianity isn’t simply about believing certain facts.

It is about relationship.

God calls us to know Him, trust Him, love Him, speak to Him, listen to Him, and live with Him at the centre of our lives.

But if the Father sent Jesus, who exactly is Jesus?