It's Father's Day, 2013 and for the first time ever, I don't have a father alive to honor, and I am sad today.
At church today, our status as adopted children of God was a part of the sermon and it got me thinking about how I used to deal with that topic when teaching Sunday School to Fourth graders.
There are many adopted children in our church. I would pick one who was adopted and then remind the class that as the adopted son of Mr. Jack Smith, he was special in that respect. Then I would ask that child if he called his dad, "Mr. Smith". Of course, he would shake his head at the foolishness of that thought. So I would ask him if he called his dad, "Jack". Again, the thought was foolish. Finally I would ask him what he called his dad and the response was always, "DAD!!!"
That brings about lots of musings about the idea of adoption:
The child doesn't initiate the adoption, nor does he do anything to make it happen.
The child becomes a son/daughter of the father with every right, privilege, and responsibility belonging to a biological child.
The child loves his father, even though he isn't his biological father.
The father loves the child, even though he isn't his biological child.
The child has reasonable expectations for what the father will do for him as he grows.
The father has the same responsibilities toward the adopted child as he does toward his biological child.
I could probably go on, but this is enough to get the picture.
When a person repents and puts his faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior, he becomes an adopted child of God! Think about the implications if this is you!
You didn't initiate the adoption; God did!
You have every right, privilege, and responsibility that goes along with being a child of God.
You love God with a deep, abiding love.
God loves you with a deep, abiding love.
You can expect God to keep all the promises in the Bible relating to you as His child.
God expects you to grow in grace and likeness of Jesus.
And as for today, Father's Day...a believer has a Father to honor who will never die, who will never forsake him, who will be there for him always. The believer doesn't have to call Him "God", or "Yahweh", or "Adonai", but rather can approach Him with the tender word, "Abba" which means "Daddy". That is a staggering thought: you, the believer, can approach the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the one and only true God...with the name, "Daddy," and expect in return the gentle love that name implies.
It is good to know that God is the Father to the fatherless and I can call him Abba, on a day when I am missing my dad....
