Father’s Day is often more of a difficult and sad day for many who have not grown up in a home with the blessing of a great father. Many people celebrate Father’s Day with mixed emotions, with some thanks to their father, but with much longing that he would be different than he is – that he would be more loving, kind, gentle, available, supportive, etc, if he is even there at all. Looking at various passages in the Bible (such as Matthew 6:9-13; Matthew 7:9-11), we can see how the ideal Christian father ought to live. But we see in our own lives how far short our fathers have been when compared to this standard. The same applies to each of us who are fathers too, since no matter how hard we might try at times, we all still fall short of God’s standard. Yet, their imperfection and our imperfection creates a longing and need to have the perfect father. Thankfully, there is one Father who is perfect, who we can rely on at all times, and who is loving, forgiving, gracious and merciful. God the Father is the only one who we can ultimately rely on, since our earthly fathers are all limited in their ability and power. But God the Father is able to do so much more than we could ask or imagine. Praise God that we can have a perfect heavenly father, no matter how imperfect our earthly fathers might have been. That God that his love is perfect, and his grace and mercy is so free. That God that he accepts all who want to be his children, who simply believe in Jesus and his death for them on the cross (John 3:16).