Abba’s Child

Meditations for Ragamuffins 

January 8, 2024

Abba’s Child

You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:15b 

While the 23^rd Psalm is quite helpful in grounding the children of God in the intimacy our Heavenly Father desires with us, I believe the most compelling depiction of our intimacy with the Father is the Apostle Paul’s assertion in his letter to the Romans: “You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15b). Let’s put this assertion into its basic context.

The average child begins to formulate words at about eighteen months of age. Imagine such a child sitting in his father’s lap and saying, “Da, da, dad, daddy.” If the child were Jewish his words would be, “Ab, Ab, Abba, Abba.” The Apostle Paul is telling us that we can express intimate love to the Creator of the universe by calling Him, Abba, Father. This assertion helps us grasp Jesus’ meaning when he said, “For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children” (Matthew 19:14b. See also Matthew 18:3).

Throughout the Bible, as men and women encountered the presence of God, or even one of His angels, they responded with fear and foreboding. That is certainly understandable considering that man’s ability to split the atom and unleash nuclear bombs pales in comparison to the power of God who looked at a world that did not exist and spoke it into being by the power of His Word. Humanity’s loftiest achievements in the arts are incomparable to the beauty of God’s holiness. Even the splendor of nature, the majestic mountains, and natural wonders, are mere shadows of the beauty and splendor that is our God. Yet, we get to know this awesome God as our Abba!

My Takeaway: If you are not yet at the place where your default position, your go-to mode is to know and relate to God as your Abba Father, what might you begin to do, or stop doing to help open your soul to an intimate, loving relationship with Abba?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.