Make Your Father Proud

This is a photo album that has some pictures we took of our son as he was growing up. We started taking pictures of him the very first day he was born and we haven't stopped to this day. People don't use put pictures in photo albums much anymore. I guess you might say that this is the new photo album. (Hold up a mobile phone.) I guess we don't really need a photo album. We always have our camera with us and as soon as we take a photo, it is right there on our phone for all to see. When I see someone at church showing a friend their phone, I can be pretty sure they are showing them a picture of their child or grandchild. Almost everyone is on Facebook these days. When you go to your Facebook page, it is full of the photos posted by your Facebook friends of their children or grandchildren.

Do you know why people like to show pictures of their children? It is because they love them and they are proud of them. They are proud of them on the day they are born and they are proud of them when they learn to walk and talk. They are proud of them when they start to school, when they play sports, or when they play in a piano recital. In each and every stage of life, parents are proud of their children.

Do you think God was proud of his Son, Jesus? I know he was! How do I know? The Bible tells me so! The Bible says that when Jesus was baptized, there was a voice from heaven that said, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Why do you think God was proud of his Son? I think it made God proud to watch him grow. The Bible tells us that "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52) It always makes a father proud to watch his children grow in maturity and become wiser. And, of course, a father is always proud when his child is well-liked and respected by other people.

Another reason that God was proud of his Son is that Jesus always did what his Father told him to do. Do you always do what your father tells you to do? I doubt if any of us could answer "yes" to that question, but Jesus could. Jesus said "I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." (John 6:38) That would make a Father proud, wouldn't it?

The Bible tells us that when we trust in Jesus as our Savior, we become the children of God. Wouldn't you like to be the kind of child that would cause God to look down from heaven and say, "My child, I'm proud of you!"

Dear Father, help us to be more like Jesus, so that we will be the kind of child of whom you can be proud. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.