God the Father – 1 John 3:1-3

Before you were,
before there was a you to be held or known,
Love was already moving—
circling in light,
whirling in joy.

The Father has always loved the Son.
The Son has always delighted in the Father.
And the Spirit breathes that love
back and forth between them—
unbroken, unbound,
a circle never closed to outsiders.

He is not like your father—
unless your father was patient,
present,
unflinching in mercy.
Even then,
he is more.
The first Father.
The one from whom all fatherhood
takes its name,
its shape,
its warmth.

He is not male,
not muscle and beard,
not distant or disinterested.
But Jesus—his Son—called him Father,
and that name held.
Held even when it cost him
his life.
Even when they picked up stones
because Father meant equal.
Meant God.

And Jesus shows us what the Father is like.
Not by diagrams
but by touch.
By stories of homecoming,
of reckless forgiveness,
of bread and fish
and lilies in the field.

This Father listens—
like no earthly father,
head buried in phone or paperwork,
mumbling half-hearted replies.
This Father hears
even the whispered cry
in the darkness of your room.
And acts.
He is in heaven—
which means he can.
He is our Father—
which means he will.

When you doubt your place,
remember:
he signed the adoption papers
with blood.
Not because he had to,
but because he chose you.
Lavished you.
Loved you
into the family.

And like any Father worth the name,
he disciplines.
Not because he enjoys your pain,
but because he wants your joy
to run deeper.
He wants you wise.
Wants your roots to stretch
through sorrow
and find the water of life.

There are days
you will wonder
where he is.
There are nights
you will ache
with the silence of heaven.
But the prodigal’s Father
is never asleep.
He is watching the road.
And when you return,
when your excuses falter
and your pride unravels—
he runs.
Not with condemnation,
but with joy.

He wraps you
not in chains
but in arms.
Not as servant,
but as child.

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

Original message by Andrew West, The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW
3 August 2025