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“A Different Daddy”
By Susanne
Scheppmann
Key verse:
Because
you are God's children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into us to call out,
"Abba! Father!" Galatians 4:6 (God’s Word)
Devotion:
The antiseptic smell of the intensive care unit
assaulted my nose as I sat next to my father’s bed. Machines whirred and beeped
with each labored breath he took. One collapsed lung and the other full of
pneumonia predicted the outcome for him.
“So this is how it ends”, I pondered. For years,
a love-hate relationship with this man influenced many of my decisions. Some
good, some bad. I always sought his approval, but rarely did he grant it.
Until two years ago, when he accepted Jesus
Christ as his Savior. At the age of 79, my earthly father discovered the Father
God’s unconditional love. I struggled to believe my father could transform from
a mean bitter man to one full of love for others. I traveled five hundred miles
just to look into those crinkled hazel eyes to see a new dad peering out at me.
Our relationship changed drastically. Finally, my father became the dad I
desired.
Now he lay dying. Two years was not long enough!
Yet, strangely, I felt a deep peace. I knew he was going home to his Father in
heaven. I leaned over to kiss his damp forehead and using a name I had not
called him forty-five years, I whispered, “I love you, Daddy. I’ll see you
soon.
We use many terms to refer to our fathers.
Father, poppa, pop, dad and daddy all recall certain images in our minds. Our
hearts were designed for a father type of relationship. Perhaps your experience
with your father was like mine, not the best. Or maybe you had a wonderful daddy,
if so count your blessings. Whatever the relationships between you and your
father, remember he is human. No one is perfect. We all have faults.
Many of us remember the old television show of
“Father Knows Best.” We smile fondly as we recall the perfect family with the
father sowing his wisdom in all sorts of different scenarios. What a family!
Dad wore suits, mom wore dresses, and the children behaved with admirable
manners.
However, in today’s culture we watch bumbling
television families. The Simpsons or the Osbournes appear nightly across the television
screens of our homes. With such examples of fathers traipsing before us, how do
we perceive our Heavenly Father?
The God of the universe is our Heavenly Father.
He loves us as his daughters and longs for us to love and trust him as our “Daddy.”
Scripture tells us, “Every good and
perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17 NIV).” God is the ultimate father who bestows good
and perfect gifts to his children. He does not change; he is worthy of our
trust.
For me, eventually learning to trust my earthly
father allowed me to call him, “Daddy.” In
the same way, when we trust our Heavenly Father, he becomes a perfect daddy to
us. In our key verse today, “Abba” translates
as daddy. God desires to be our Father God, the perfect Father, our Daddy, and
our Abba.
Will you trust him today as your “Abba
Father?”
Prayer:
Dear
Father God, help me to know in my heart that you love me with a perfect
fatherly love. Begin to teach me how to relate to you as my “Abba, Daddy.”
Application steps: Write Galatians 4:6 on an
index card and tape it on your mirror. Ponder this verse each time you peek in
the mirror. Read John 17:2-25 and then reflect on Christ’s prayer to the Father
for you and meditate on John 17:20-25.
Refection points:
How
does my relationship with my earthly father influence my relationship with God?
Do
I blame God for past circumstances in my life?
Am
I comfortable addressing God as “My Father?”
In
what ways has God provided for me in the past? (Food, clothing, etc.)
Do
I trust God with my future?
Power verses:
Matthew
6:26, Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable
than they? (NIV)
Zephaniah
3:17, The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great
delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with
singing." (NIV)
John
10:32, But Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from
the Father. (NIV)
1
Corinthians 8:6, Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all
things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things came and through whom we live. (NIV)
© 2004 by Susanne Scheppmann. All rights reserved.
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