On this Father’s Day, I spent some time reflecting on how perfect our loving heavenly Father is. Of course, I wish I understood His ways better sometimes (a lot of the time), but my lack of understanding does not diminish His perfection.

One of the things I thought about today was what is famously known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Jesus tells this story in Luke 15 to paint a picture for us of what God the Father is like. In a nutshell, this story describes how an ungrateful son goes to his loving father one day and asks for his share of the inheritance, effectively telling his father he wishes he were dead. The father actually agrees to give it to him. The son takes the money and, through a whole series of bad decisions, loses it all. All out of options, he decides to go crawling back to his father to see if he would possibly consider hiring him as a regular worker.

One really beautiful part of the story comes, though, when the father sees his wayward son coming in the distance. Instead of waiting for his son to come groveling to him, this is what Jesus tells us the father does instead:

Did you catch that? Despite how badly his son had treated him, the father ran to him and embraced him. It was considered very undignified in the ancient Jewish culture for a grown man to run. Yet the father ran to welcome his son home. He restored his son, who had been lost, but now was found. He forgave his son, even before his son had a chance to beg for forgiveness.

I have always loved my kids, so I tried to forgive them whenever they screwed up. But, of course, God takes it to a whole new level. He loves us perfectly. He forgives us perfectly. So, obviously, that’s way better than the imperfect ways I was able to forgive my kids.

I am so grateful that I have a perfect Father in heaven who does not condemn me for all the dumb decisions I have made. Instead, when I realize what a moron I am being, and turn around to head back home to Him, He runs out to greet me with a warm embrace. He invites me back into His home and celebrates my return with a feast.

I think whoever believes that God is a grumpy old man waiting to beat us up for the slightest infraction has not read the story of the Prodigal Son. They are missing out on the chance to know the real heavenly Father that Jesus knows so well and describes for us in this parable.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and to our perfect Father in heaven!