The Father's Love

"See how great a love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are."  (1 John 3:1)

And so we are. Read that again. The Apostle John knew his place, didn't he?

Friends, do you know that you are a child of the Most High God? Do you really know that? Our Father is not content to leave us as orphans. We might feel sometimes that we have no place, but it is God's desire that we know him and call him "Abba" (my Father).

Many people say they believe in God, and maybe they do. But it is only through Jesus, the Son, that we get to call him "my Father." Scripture tells us that when we have a relationship with Jesus we are adopted into the family; we get to call Jesus' Father our Father. God loves each of us as much as he loves Jesus.

In the garden before his arrest, Jesus called his father, "Abba." Twice in the letters of St. Paul we read that the Spirit of Christ is Himself the one who cries in us, "Abba! Father!" (Rm. 8:15 and Gal. 4:6)

In this Romans 8:15 passage, Paul is pointing out the true adoption we have because of Christ.

How is that? Under Jewish law, the servants of the household were not allowed to call the head of the household "Abba." That was a term reserved for the children, both adopted and natural. Paul reminds us here that because of Jesus our relationship with God has changed! We are no longer servants in the household; we are now His children, and with that comes the joy and privilege of having access to Him and calling Him, "Abba."

I believe that when we truly GET that, our lives change; and we can say along with John, "See how great a love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are."

Blessings to you this week, brothers and sisters!

Greg