Wednesday, July 7: Galatians 4-The delight of the familiar.

You know how when you first meet people there is an awkwardness about the relationship? However as time goes on and the relationship deepens, you become more and more comfortable with that person or persons.

I think of some of my in-laws. Thirty years ago I knew them because they “came” with my wife but over the decades I have developed a stand-alone relationship with some of them. Yes, the blood-relationship is through my wife, but now I have the personal relationship. There is a delight, a joy, a relationship that I have with them independent of my wife. We can joke or cry or go to deep places together and it is good.

Paul made a powerful statement in verse 6: Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." First, through Christ we are all sons, that is incredible in and of itself. But it gets better, because of the Spirit in us, we can call God ‘Abba, Father.’ Grammatically, Abba is a diminutive, which means that it is the familiar form of the word. To capture that, we could translate it ‘daddy.’ And typically in our language daddy expresses a very comfortable, loveable relationship. Daddy is a heartwarming expression… Daddy, we can call God, Daddy!

Some of us may not find it comfortable to call our earthly fathers ‘daddy’, but through Jesus we are all invited to call our heavenly Father, ‘Daddy- Abba’. Abba describes a deep comfortable, wonderful, healthy, loving, delight-filled relationship. It is good and it is there for all who confess Jesus as Lord.

Abba, Father, Daddy, Oh thank You for drawing me into a wonderful relationship. Thank You for loving me deeply and unconditionally. Thank You for becoming ‘familiar’ and close. Thank You for Your love. Oh, God, I am so blessed that You drew me into a relationship with You. Daddy, Son and Spirit… bless You and thank You … Amen.

 

(I don’t do it all the time. But sometimes I open my prayer with ‘Daddy.’ It gives my prayer a very different feel… intimate and close. Sometimes my prayers require reverence and I use another name for God. Try opening a prayer with ‘Daddy’ and see what it is like. After all God is Lord and creator and your Abba (Daddy) Father. Just a  thought.)