God's Invitation

God’s invitation…
What do you call your dad? What did you call him when you were a little child? That’s really the heart and soul of what this verse from Romans 8 is getting at. Paul tells us that we have been given a bold spirit by God. It’s a spirit that invites and encourages us to come to him and cry out to him in good times and bad. But what do we cry? What are we supposed to call him?
Early Jewish thought was that God was distant, far off, so far above us that we couldn’t possibly be close to him. Paul knows this and reminds us in this section that God is closer than you may realize. Not only did God come to us in the person of his Son Jesus, but he now comes to us with an invitation to a very close relationship – that of a father and a child.
Being a young father I’ve taken time recently to listen to what children call their earthly fathers. The answers vary from the simple daddy to the endearing papa to the homemade words for dad that I can’t even figure out how to spell.
I really like the Message translation of this verse: 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?"
I remember vaguely when I was a child calling upon my father with the loving and childlike Daddy! But somewhere along the line I got “too old” for that. “It’s just not cool to call him daddy anymore – he’s dad.”
God invites us to never lose the feeling of childlike faith. He wants us to be comfortable resting in his warm presence. He calls us to cry out to him when life stinks and to invite him into our celebrations when life is going well. He wants us to think of him not as a distant father but as our loving daddy and present papa.
As you prepare for worship this week, invite God back into your life as your loving daddy. Even if your earthly father was a poor example of a loving daddy – you can still fall into God’s arms be loved by him – NO STRINGS ATTACHED! Anything that needed to be done to earn his love was already done when Jesus went to the cross. Jesus earned your place in God’s family! Welcome sister. It’s good to see you brother! Be loved by Papa today.
Prayer
Papa we love you and today we just need to know how much we are loved by you! Show us that love because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Help me to remember that you are my daddy! AMEN