We love because He first loved us. I John 4:19 ESV

 

Like many parents, Ola simply repeated what he’d learned from his father—which meant Ola was a very angry dad.

 

The role of father is a powerful one. The effect of that power can go a very long way in the right or the wrong direction. “I grew up in an atheist family.” Ola shared, “I was so desperate at one point because I saw myself repeating the same behavior with my children as I saw in my dad. I was treating my children in a way that did not honor God. I didn’t know any better.” Thankfully for Ola, and his children, his life was transformed by the love of God. He’s now learning how to love his family the same way God loves him.

Discovering God’s love also transformed Maksi. He said, “I thought that violence was the only way to control my family.” He explained that his home was often filled with violence; he said he often found a reason to begin fights. “I didn’t know that there was any other way,” he explained. But then, Maksi said he began to solve his problems in a different way.  With God’s love and peace now in Maksi’s life and in his home, he says “I know pray with my family members, and we all ask for forgiveness of sins and for God’s peace in our family!”

The Bible says that “We love because He first loved us” (I John 4:19 ESV). When a father says yes to God’s love, that father changes. Generations change. Dad, if you see yourself in Ola or Maksi’s stories, God says to you, “‘My wayward children…Come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts'” (Jeremiah 3:22). God longs to enable fathers to love powerfully.