The front door opens and I hear little feet running to it. “Daaaaaaadyyyy!”
I smile as I hear the sounds of kisses and giggles. I turn around and my heart takes a leap. The three people I love most on earth are all smiles. It does not matter how hard the day was anymore. Problems with friends at school? Difficult homework? In a moment, my girls just know it -- all is fine, for daddy is home.
I reflect back on my childhood and how I was absolutely crazy about my daddy (I still am). He was Superman. He knew it all. He could do anything. He was also the strongest, smartest, richest and most handsome man alive. If you were blessed to be raised by a loving dad, you know what I am talking about. If you asked us, daddy’s girls, we would have no problem thinking our dads did hang the moon. Because we really believed they could.
Jesus called his father “Abba.” This word, as a reference to God in Aramaic, literally means “daddy” or “papa.” Jesus cried out to his daddy in the garden of Gethsemane, at a time of great distress, when he was about to give himself up as a ransom for mankind’s sins (Mark 14:36).
Many of us have different names which people call us by. If someone calls me “Mrs. Holbrook” and unless they are 13-years-old or younger, the verdict is simple — they just don’t know me.
On the other hand, different nicknames and loving abbreviations are normally a demonstration of how close someone is to me. When someone changes from an acquaintance to a friend, most likely, I give them a special nickname. The more I get to know someone, the more I love them and the more intimate we become. Therefore, I can’t seem to call them by their name any longer. My friends Drica, Kiki, Coco and T can testify to that.
What do you call God?
The way you call God may reveal just how intimate you are with him (or not). If you call Him “the man upstairs,” chances are, you don’t know him very well. If you are quick to carelessly use his name in every other sentence, chances are, you don’t revere him, and therefore, you don’t know him. The more you know God, the more you love him and the more reverent, yet intimate, you become with him.
This Father’s Day, as I honor the wonderful dad that God has given me on earth, I want to take some time and thank Abba, for being a wonderful daddy to me; because he is unchanging and all-loving, he never fails his children.
As tomorrow dawns, I suggest you say a prayer of thanks to our heavenly father. Thank him for being the father who has given you life and who sustains you each day. The father who is there even when earthly fathers leave their children. The father who waits with open arms when his children wander away from him. The father who understands your sorrows, your losses, your deepest hurts.
Yes. If you know his mercy and grace, you too, can call him Daddy.
Patricia Holbrook is a Bible teacher and the author of a series of Christian devotionals she shares on her blog, www.soaringwithHim.com. To contact her, email: pholbrook@soaringwithHim.com.
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