God's love: The love of a parent

I love my granddaughter so much!

I had the privilege of becoming a grandparent just over two weeks ago and it's great!  Our granddaughter is adorable and very special.  But it has set me musing on why I love her so much.  Yes, she's adorable; yes, she is my son's child but there is something more.  And it's not because of anything she does.

She doesn't know me although she may recognise me as someone familiar.  She doesn't reach out and cuddle me, talk to me or even look at me with any degree of focus or recognition.  Other than the warmth of cuddling her I get nothing out of the relationship, at least, not at the moment.  So why do I love her so much?

I have decided that the reason I love her so much is just because she is. I love her simply because she is here and not because of anything that she does. In a way she is a part of me but I don't think that is the reason why I love her.  It is certainly not for any activity or behaviour on her part; she is too young for that.  Nor is it because I love me so much!  I struggle with loving me.  But I have participated in my granddaughter's creation and here she is, a gift to the family, and we love her simply because she has arrived among us, just because she is.

Our Heavenly Father's love 

This set me thinking about another parent, our Heavenly Father.  If I, my son and my daughter-in-law love this new arrival so much just because she is, could our Heavenly Father love us any less?  Or make his love conditional and expect us to act in a particular way before he loves?  Of course not; it's inconceivable.  God loves us just because we are.  He created us in order to love us.  Yet somehow we often think deep down that we are not lovable enough for God to love us.  We try and act in ways that will make us more lovable, more acceptable to God - and we fail.  We slip up somewhere because we are human, because we are unable to be perfect all the time.

But we don't have to be.  It is enough that we have been created.  Sometimes it is said that God cannot love us any more or any less that he does now.  Nothing that we do and nothing that we fail to do will change how much he loves us.  Our Heavenly Father's love is perfect.  He loves us just as much as he loves Jesus, John 17:23.

I will be in them, and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me.

He loves us at least as much as any mother loves her own baby, and even more than some, Isaiah 49:15:

But the Lord says,
“Can a woman forget her baby?
    Can she forget the child who came from her body?
Even if she can forget her children,
    I cannot forget you.

As my granddaughter grows older I expect that there will be times when she will act in ways I do not like; she will not always please me.  But I cannot believe that I shall love her any the less as a result.  And so I trust that she will be a constant reminder that God loves me just as much whether I please or displease him.

And as my granddaughter grows older I hope she will grow to love me too, just because I am her grandmother.  And as we both grow older I hope that we shall both grow to love God more, just because he is our Heavenly Father who loves us so much.

Bible passages taken from English Standard Version (ESV)  The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.