Father

Galatians 4

4 But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

5 God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law,

     so that He could adopt us as His very own children.

6 And because we are His children,

     God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,

     prompting us to call out,

     "Abba, Father."

7 Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child.

And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you.



Ii is now the fashion among some circles of evangelical Christianity to interpret is us of "Abba" in the Hebrew as "Daddy".

I'm still not comfortable with that...

     it feels like a trivialization of something far & beyond our comprehension...

     an intimate relationship with the God of the universes.


But I think we may be missing the whole point here by quibbling about semantics.

I think what Paul's utmost task in this passage is to communicate to the Galatians (& us!) that the God of the universes has set things up so that each & every one of us has the opportunity to me on an intimate level, and intimate connection, with Him.

This was a fantastic, unheard of, unbelievable concept at the time.

And I think it still is.


Paul was saying to the Galatians that God wants to meet us in that intimate, open, transparent, supportive, disciplining relationship that is between a Perfect Father & His children.

I am VERY well aware that a huge percentage of people these days do NOT have a positive concept &/or experience with a father.

But it was only when I heard Louis Giglio talk about God wanting to be a Perfect Father that I saw what people can do about that faulty / injured / negative father concept.

Louie suggested this for those of us who's concept of father is dubious...

     try to think of what we would consider, in every way, to be the perfect kind of father...

     then conceptualize that as what God is & longs to be with us - and even infinitely more.


God wants to draw us into a relationship with Him at an unheard of level of intimacy.

God wants to & longs to be our Father.

And He's already set it up through Jesus

All we have to do is embrace it.


That is the scandal of grace - that that relationship is freely available to each of us.