I Am Your Child
My wife and I have two daughters and two sons. It was God’s providence that we had the girls first, and then our sons. If we had the boys first, we may not have had any more kids!
Boys are just a different animal.
For example, when Jen or I would take away an item the kids weren’t supposed to play with, we often put it up out of their reach. Our girls understood, “Mom doesn’t want us to play with that.” But our boys had a different thought process. We could almost see them thinking, “How does Mom want me to get to that?”
Let’s just say that there were plenty of times we needed to correct our boys!
Many times, I didn’t call them by their name; instead I addressed them by the title, “Son.”
“Good morning, Son.”
“Hello, Son.”
“How are you today, Son?”
When they were being mischievous or got themselves into trouble, the tone was a bit different, but the address was still the same.
“Son, come over here.”
“Son. Stop. Think about what you’re doing.”
“Son, look in my eyes… tell me the truth…”
I remember a friend hearing me address one of the boys this way in a moment of discipline. It made an impression on him because even at that moment, I was affirming the relationship between father and son.
The same is true for us.
When we believe in Christ and His grace toward us, we are adopted by God and can therefore call Him Daddy! Paul tells us that “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, “Abba, Father.” (NIV)
Earlier in his letter to the Romans, Paul pointed out that “while we were still sinners (enemies of God!), Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:8b-9, ESV)
This relationship doesn’t reverse the impact or consequences of our sin, but it does provide us with a secure foundation whereby we can go to our Father no matter how bad we sin. We no longer have to be afraid of God’s wrath and anger toward sin. We can now relate to Him as our Abba, our Dad, who proved His love for us at the cross.
In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve sinned, God asked Adam where he was. Adam’s response was, “I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid” (Genesis 3:10b, NIV).
Dear Saints, you have no need to hide. Can you hear your Father say, “Son or Daughter, look in my eyes. Tell me the truth. Where are you?” Instead of hiding, you can say “I’m right here, Dad. I know I’ve done wrong, but because of your grace, I recognize our relationship is secure. Here is where I am…”
And you’ll hear Him say what is still one of my favorite things to say to my sons: “Son, I love you. Let’s walk together through this.”