ROMANS 8:12–17
A father multitasks while driving a lawn mower and towing a child’s waggon, capturing his three-year-old daughter’s delight in the noisy tour of their yard. This scene can evoke fantastic memories. However, for many, “dad” is an incomplete concept, and where to turn if our fathers are gone, fail us, or even wound us is a question.
King David understood the paternal nature of God. He wrote that God is a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows, setting the lonely in families (Psalm 68:5–6). The apostle Paul further elaborated on this idea, stating that the Spirit brought about sonship and that young children would cry “Abba, Father” to God (Romans 8:15), a term similar to Jesus’s prayer to His Father during betrayal (Mark 14:36).
What an honour it is to address God in the same close-knit way as Jesus did by calling him “father”! Everybody who will turn to our Abba Father is welcomed into His household.
