“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?’ God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.” (Romans 8:15,16 MSG)

At our house, Dad is better at adventures than Mom. In each unique place we’ve lived, he’s found ways to go adventuring with the kids, and everyone is better for it. Pond and river fishing in Missouri, ice fishing and pheasant hunting in the Dakotas, hiking and camping in the national parks and forests of California and the mountains of North Carolina, and all kinds of exploring in and around Jordan Lake. When they were younger, all three would come home from an adventure and say, “What’s next, Dad? When can we go again?” (As we enter teenage territory, they aren’t as effusive, but I’m sure the sighs and eye rolls still translate to something meaningful!)

It has been one of the greatest joys of my life to watch the relationships between my husband and our children grow and develop. I didn’t grow up with a father figure, so I never witnessed what the father-child relationship could/should look like. It was simply a fact of my life that dad wasn’t around--it was, in hindsight, a blessing that he was not--so to have a front row seat to watch as our children have the distinct blessing of being parented by an involved and loving father has been so very sweet.

Our belief in Jesus immediately assimilates us into God’s family, where we take on the role of adventurously expectant kids along for the ride with their good, good Father. He’s a Father who can always be trusted to have His children’s best interest at heart. The adventures my husband and children have taken haven’t always gone according to plan, but the kids always trust that Dad will see them through. How much more does God do that for us?

Perhaps you grew up in a situation like my own, sans father figure, and it’s hard to reconcile the history of your earthly father with your view of a heavenly one. Regardless of the family you grew up in, though, when you say yes to the Good News, you are welcomed into a new family--a family with a good, good Father.

The idea of God being “Abba,” or father, fascinated me as a child. Everything my dad is not, God is! We often think of God as Father, but have you ever thought of God as “Daddy?” How would that shift of thinking change the way you approach Him today? 

To read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can click here.