…you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.
Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” -Romans 8:15b NLT
Happy Father’s Day!
Everyone can be called a child of God, from the standpoint of being created by Him, and loved by Him. But sin separates everyone from God, so we don’t naturally know God as our Father. God sent Jesus to bridge the separation between God and man, being God and made a man. When Jesus was baptized God said,
“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” -Matthew 3:17
And Paul reminds us that we are baptized not only into Jesus death, but also His life. Through baptism, we are adopted as God’s own children, and we call Him “Abba” (Aramaic term for father), “Father”, “Dad”, “Daddy”, “Papa”, “Pop”, and as Ella says to me now, “Dada.” We get to use these intimately personal names befitting a father who loves us dearly, because He does love us dearly, and because He did the work to make us His children. God is truly, legally, our Father. Our birth certificates have been changed from children of sin, to children of the Heavenly Father.
In our baptism we are intimately tied to Christ, we die His death with Him (more importantly, He died in our place), and we rise from the waters to our new life in the resurrection even as we wait for our bodily resurrection when Jesus comes again.
The life we live, we live as children of God, heirs of the kingdom with Christ.
What was it like the first time you got to call God, “Daddy”?
And we live, sent to share the love of Jesus, the love of the Father, with everyone we meet.
What would it feel like to see someone you know get to call God, “Daddy” for the first time?
This Father’s Day is special to me because it brings me great joy when my little girl says, “Dada”, and gives me a hug, or just leans on me because it makes her feel good to know I’m right there with her.
Spend some time with your Father today. Call Him whatever your name for Him is, and wrap your arms around Him, and lean on Him knowing that He is right there with you.
I would love to hear what you learn as you reflect on what it means to you that you God is your Father, and how it changes the life you live. If you have a Penzu journal, post something about Father’s day, and add a quick note about how you see God, or a quick thanks to Him. And check out others’ stories while you’re at it.
Your brother in Christ,
Matthew Wipperman
