“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father'” (Romans 8:15).
“Daddy! Daddy!” Two words that can melt many dad’s hearts in mere seconds. It’s amazing to me how many situations I can hear those words: “Daddy, daddy hold me!” “Daddy, daddy tickle me!” “Daddy, daddy, I’m scared.”
Does it ever get old for a loving dad to hear those words? I remember my grandfather still referring to his father as “Daddy.”
When we think about God and who God is, it would be easy for us to think about God as the Transcendent One, the Almighty One, the Ruler of all, the All Magnificent One. He is certainly all of those things. He is infinitely greater than you or I could ever imagine. He is infinitely more wonderful than our minds could ever fathom. And…by nature we’re His exact opposite: we are sinful, He is holy.
And yet…how can we approach this awesome and incredible Triune God? With fear and trembling?
Nope! You didn’t receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, BUT RATHER (the Greek indicates a complete shift) you received the Spirit of sonship. “Sonship” is also an interesting word. It’s the word used for Roman adoption. In their system, when an adoption took place the adopted child received the full rights of a natural born child including inheritance rights and all other former ties were cut off. In other words, the child is completely and totally part of the family.
And that’s what God says you are! You are part of His family! Because Jesus paid for your sins with His death on the cross, because the Holy Spirit used the gospel to work faith in your heart, you are a child of God the Father! You get to call the awesome Triune God, “Father, Dad, Daddy” at any time and situation. How cool is that?
Joyful to be our loving Father’s child now and always, just like you,
pastor