If you’re a dad, you know what it means to fail. On Father’s Day, don’t dwell on your failures; remember how Jesus has overcome them.

Every dad I know (including the one I know best: me) lives with regret. All of us have blown it with our kids in some very big and bad ways. And this can make Father’s Day humbling, awkward, and even painful. We receive honor and praise we know we don’t really deserve.

Father’s Day can be a harsh reminder of our failures in one of life’s most important roles—the role of a dad. To all you dads out there, let me be the first to wish you a “Happy Failure’s Day.” Now, let me point you toward Jesus.

Jesus takes away sin

Last words are said to be lasting words, and the Old Testament of the Bible closes with some lasting words. The prophet Malachi records these final words from God, who said, “Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (Mal. 4:5–6).

Roughly 400 years after this message was delivered, John the Baptizer shows up playing the role of Elijah (Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 17:12) and proclaims Jesus to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

God the Father’s love poured out for us in Jesus enables us to exceed our very worst failures.

As Jesus takes away the sin of those who trust in him for forgiveness, soft hearts replace hard ones. With new hearts, dads love kids and kids love dads in a way that is bigger than sin, failure, shame, and regret.

Jesus loves us in our failure

Dads, God the Father’s love poured out for us in Jesus enables us to exceed our very worst failures. He sees us through the righteousness of Jesus and invites us to see ourselves in the very same way—even as we fail. This practically means I can openly own my sin against my children through confession and repentance. And while the consequences of my sin may linger, there is no condemnation, so my heart is freed to love my kids in a way that overcomes the regret I feel from hurting those I love most.

In the lyrics of “How He Loves,” a song we often sing together in worship: “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way…He loves us.”

Jesus helps us forgive

Sons and daughters, the Father’s love poured out for us in Jesus enables us to forgive the dads who have failed us. That’s why the Bible instructs us to, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). Just as Jesus changes the hearts of dads, he changes the hearts of children too. He can take the wounded heart of a child destined for the hardness of bitterness and make it tender and forgiving.

God sees us through the righteousness of Jesus and invites us to see ourselves in the very same way—even as we fail.

The Father sent his Son to change the hearts of fathers and their children. And Jesus has done just that. He gives us new hearts filled with love. The Bible is true and exhorts us, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8).

Dads, there is only one perfect Father, and we are not him. But he makes it possible for failures like us to really have a happy Father’s Day.