Dared to call Him Father

Our Father

Bilquis Sheikh, a Pakistani, wrote about her conversion to Christianity in the book I Dared to Call Him Father. The title caught my attention. Dared to call Him Father? We usually take it for granted that we can address God as “Father.” We hardly realize what a great privilege it is anymore! Jesus introduced something completely revolutionary when He told us to call God, “Our Father in heaven” (v.9). Considering how dangerous it was for Jesus to call God “My Father” (John 5:17-18), perhaps Bilquis Sheikh was right. We can’t take it for granted that we may call God “Abba, Father.”

While on earth, Jesus spoke with God with evident familiarity and intimacy, calling God “Father” more than 200 times. Jesus never called God by any other name until—while on the cross, bearing the sins of the world and forsaken by His Father—He cried out in anguish: “My God, my God” (Matthew 27:46). But once His act of ultimate sacrifice was nearing completion, Jesus reverted to calling God “Father.” His final, triumphant words were: “Father, I entrust My spirit into Your hands!” (Luke 23:46).

Because of the cross, we now have the privilege and the right to call God “Abba, Father,” for we “are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26; see also John 1:12). God is our Father, for He has adopted us (Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:4-5). We dare to call Him “Father” because we have received “the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4-7 NIV) through the gift of the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of sonship” (Romans 8:14-17 NIV). A nonbeliever will never be able to call God “Abba, Father.”

Our Father in heaven (v.9) is a name of endearment. God is our “Abba Father” who deeply loves us His children.

BY

k.t. sim

PRAISE GOD
BLESSED BE THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD