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For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8
Reflect
“I hate you!”
Stella’s words rang with anger, but that’s just what she meant to do. Her father had grounded her for a week, and now she would miss the dance she’d been looking forward to.
It did not seem to matter that she had missed curfew three straight times, or that her father had let her go with a warning the first time. The second time cost her the use of her cell phone for a week, and her father had warned Stella that the next time would come with a grounding. But that couldn’t include the dance!
So Stella did the only thing she could think of – use her words to hurt her father, just as he had hurt her. He was on his way out the door to catch a flight from Miami to Seattle for a meeting that he’d been planning for months, one that would make or break his business. Maybe while he was on that five-hour flight, he’d have time to rethink his actions.
But even as quickly as she’d said the words, Stella had started to regret them. She didn’t really hate her father. She just felt he was being unfair. But just as the words were undoubtedly stabbing him in the heart as he boarded his flight, the words were also eating into Stella’s heart. She walked out of the house with tears in her eyes, and the scene kept replaying itself in her mind. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”
Maybe the words or the regrets or the tears were what kept Stella from seeing the car speeding at her as she entered the street on the flashing “Don’t Walk” sign…
Word reached Stella’s father before his plane had even touched down in Seattle. She was alive but critical and in surgery. He quickly bought a new ticket for the next flight to Miami and was barely on the ground for an hour before he was back on another jet heading home. He had gotten word to the people he was to meet with, and they understood, even though he knew this might well cost him the big deal. At the moment, Stella was the bigger deal.
The next morning, when Stella opened her eyes, the first face she saw was her father’s. She began to cry.
“Daddy, I’m so sorry. I don’t hate you.”
“I know, Stella. It’s OK.”
Stella thought for a moment. “But your meeting,” she said. “You missed your meeting.”
“That doesn’t matter right now, Stella,” her father replied. “There will be other meetings. I only have one you.”
“But you came all the way back after the terrible things I said.”
“Stella, nothing you do can ever make me stop loving you. I would have stepped in front of that car to save you.”
More tears fell as Stella quietly said, “I love you, Daddy.”
“I know, honey. I love you too.”
Stella’s father was just a man, but like most fathers, he gladly would have given himself for his child. Stella had been wrong. Her words had been cruel. She had used them on purpose because she wanted him to hurt the way she felt hurt.
But none of that changed his love for her.
He missed the meeting. He turned around. He came home. And if he could have stepped in front of that car himself, he would have done it.
By comparison, our heavenly Father did even more.
Romans tells us that Christ did not die for us after we had cleaned ourselves up. He did not wait until we became worthy, obedient, grateful, or good enough. While we were still weak, while we were still sinners, while we were still wrong, Christ died for us.
That is the love of God.
He did not look at our sin and turn away. He looked at our sin and made a way for us to come home.
If you have never thanked the Lord for what He has done for you, today would be a good day to start. And if you need prayer, or if you want to talk about what it means to have a relationship with Him, I would be honored to pray for you or with you.
No matter what you have done, God really does love you, and He wants you to come home.
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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
