Ab, Abba / Father, Papa

For July, each post examines an Old Testament name of God.

Friday Freelance: FATHER


Our family has a fun little game. One of our five children randomly says, "Mom: I have a question."

I study the individual's face for a moment, then respond with, "The answer is yes / no / not now" or another answer which comes to me. The question is then posed, for me to either confirm or alter my answer. And because I love my children and wish to bless them, I'm eager to allow any request I don't have a good reason to deny.

Most fun is when my moment of studying a face is followed by correctly stating both the answer and the question. My oldest daughter swears I'm "freaky" in my uncanny ability to read their minds more often than not.

When she sees this post she'll finally learn my secrets. [Have you been curious, Michaelle?] While my previous experience as a street cop—reading a person's every move—certainly doesn't hurt, I rely far more upon 46 years life experience, mother's intuition, and intimate knowledge of my children.

We homeschool, so not only do I spend more hours observing them than I otherwise might, but they've also learned how to think primarily from me. Even more significant is the fact that our children grow up in their parents' images. They are both unique individuals and microcosms of the parents who co-create them.

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those
who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son
into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"
Galatians 4:4-6 (NKJV)

Like the child who is the "spitting image" of a parent, we are created in the image of our Father God.

The Creator did not produce man with merely His word and will as He did the rest of creation, but He formed man and woman with His hand and kissed life into them with His breath. We possess not merely mammalian faculties to think and show affection and express preferences, but Godlike capacities to reason and love and judge right and wrong.

Like a human father, Our Father in heaven sees how we think and anticipates our thoughts and actions. He understands and supplies needs we don't even realize we have. He tells us what will hurt us and instructs us to leave it alone. He knows our frailty and takes it into account even as He pushes us to excel. He watches us fail and gently picks us up, brushes us off, and urges us to try again. He finds us utterly irresistible and loves us with a limitless capacity.

He not only breathed life into us, but He gave the life of His Son for us, that He might breathe Himself into us.

And because He loves all His children—those whose faith in Jesus Christ qualifies them for adoption—He really does want all His kids to love one another and get along, valuing the differences with which He gifted us rather than despising them.

Our Father longs to bless us with every good and perfect gift, and He waits until the right time to present each gift even as we wait upon Him.

"All things have been delivered to Me by My Father,
and no one knows the Son except the Father.
Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son,
and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."
Matthew 11:27 (NKJV)

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