How do you know you are loved? This week the famous footballer Michael Owen has sparked a lively debate by saying that he never tells his children that he loves them. This despite the fact that they are the most precious people in the world to him for whom he would do anything. His argument is that actions are more important than words. He assumes that his children know they are loved because of how he is with them and what he does for them.
He surely makes a valid point. Too many children have been wounded by fathers who said the words ‘I love you’ but then were cruel, uncaring or absent. But let’s not through the baby out with the bathwater. Words and actions are both important, and God the Father sets us the example. We read in the Gospels that when Jesus was baptised his Father spoke from heaven and said, ‘You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased*’.
Those few words rooted Jesus in his identity and gave him the security and affirmation he needed to begin a public life that would be challenging and costly.
So, how about us? Do we have those words ringing in our ears at the start of each day? The good news of Jesus is that no matter what our earthly fathers may have said, we have a heavenly father longing to adopt us into his family and say to us, ‘I love you.’
*Mark 1:11
