“Good-est!”

1 John 3:¹ [NIV] “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are…”

My advice to parents is to do your best to be impartial in your dealings with your children. I applaud the parents that claim not to have a favourite child and I think it is really commendable.

However, it is natural for people with more than one child to tilt towards a certain child. One of your children will always have a special soft spot in your heart because human beings are prone to having favourites. But do your best to be impartial in every way.

Out of my parent’s six children, I was my father’s favourite child. It was not because I was first child, or the last child, or the only boy [I have four brothers], or the only girl [I am not even a girl at all]. For some reason, I was his favourite son and I had a good relationship with my father. He taught me how to think, how to read, how to analyze stories, how to do so many things. So, when I came to God I did not struggle with seeing God as my Father. In fact, I embraced my heavenly Father with my two hands and my two legs because of my experiences with my earthly father.

The influence we have over our children comes with great responsibility and it is important for us to understand the weight of that. Even when you have a good relationship with your parent(s), the truth is that God is still better than your parent(s). As good as my relationship was with my earthly father, I have come to discover that God is by far better than my father. He is incomparable. I am not saying this because it is the right thing to say, rather, I speak from a place of relationship – God is by far more gracious. God is the “good-est” God! The word “good-est” is an adjective from the ‘Femi Monehin Dictionary of Praise Words’ and it is used for qualifying God’s goodness, if indeed it can be qualified.

The fifth commandment would have been easy if God had said, ‘Honour your father and mother as long as they are honourable, speak what is right, and you agree with them,’ but God did not say that. He did not give us the luxury of choosing whom to honour as far as our parents are concerned.

Prayer [song]: Lord, You are so good! Lord, You are kind! Lord, You are wonderful! My God, You are excellent. Excellent is Your Name, excellent is Your power. Lord You are wonderful, my God – You are excellent! Amen!