Your Father Cares for You

“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.’”

Romans 8:15 (NIV)

One of the greatest blessings of salvation is one we mention least: we get to call God our Father.

We talk a great deal about forgiveness, and rightly so. But forgiveness on its own would leave us pardoned and still standing outside. Adoption brings us in. Justification changes our standing before the Judge; adoption changes our relationship with the Father. A pardoned criminal walks out of a courtroom free. An adopted child is taken home.

Paul says, “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.’”

Look at the contrast Paul draws: slave or child. A slave relates to the master through fear and performance. There is always a next task, and never any security, because the relationship depends entirely on usefulness. A child relates through belonging. The child may be corrected, but the child is never at risk of being sent away.

Many Christians are legally children and functionally slaves. They have been adopted, and they still relate to God as though they were on a trial period. If that describes you, this verse is for you.

Notice the word “Abba.” It is Aramaic, the everyday household language Jesus spoke. It is the word of a child to their father. It carries warmth and immediacy without any loss of respect. And here is what should stop us: this is the very word Jesus used in Gethsemane. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you” (Mark 14:36). The word the eternal Son used in His deepest agony is now placed in the mouths of former enemies. Galatians 4:6 says God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, and it is by that Spirit we cry it.

Which tells us where our sense of sonship comes from. It is not something we work up. Paul says the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16). Assurance is a work of the Holy Spirit, and if you lack it, that is something to ask Him for rather than something to manufacture.

Now, for some people the word “father” carries pain rather than comfort, and that must be said honestly. Your father may have been absent. He may have been present and cold. He may have been frightening, or unreliable, or so demanding that nothing was ever enough. If that is your history, this verse may feel like a locked door rather than an open one.

So hear this carefully. God is not a bigger version of your earthly father. He is not the same thing scaled up. He is the original, of whom every earthly father is at best a faint copy and at worst a distortion. Ephesians 3:14-15 speaks of “the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” Fatherhood did not begin with your father and get applied to God. It begins with God, and human fathers are the ones who fall short of it.

If you want to know what the Father is like, look at Jesus. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The Father is like the One who welcomed children, wept at a grave, touched lepers, ate with outcasts and washed feet. That is the character of the God who has adopted you.

And look at what this Father does. He sees you; nothing about your situation has escaped His notice. He listens; Jesus taught us that the Father knows what we need before we ask, and still invites us to ask. He corrects, and He corrects because He loves, not because He is disappointed in us. And He stays faithful when others do not. Psalm 27:10 says, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”

Now here is where it becomes practical. When something goes wrong, what is your instinct? For many of us it is to hide. We stop praying because we feel unfit to pray. We keep our distance until we have improved a little. That is the reflex of a slave, and it is exactly backwards.

A child does not run away from a loving father when they have broken something. A child runs towards him. Hebrews 4:16 tells us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” With confidence. Not once we have sorted ourselves out. In our time of need.

And remember what this adoption cost. Galatians 4:4-5 says God sent His Son “to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Redemption came first. The Son was given up so that sons and daughters could be brought in. Your place at the table was purchased at the cross, which is why nobody can take it from you.

So bring Him your worries today. Bring the fear, the mess, the thing you cannot fix and have been too ashamed to name.

You are not approaching a stranger, and you are not an orphan. Live today with the confidence of a child whose Father sees, knows and deeply cares.

Prayer

Father, thank You that I am not a slave working to secure a place, but a child who has already been brought home. Thank You that adoption cost You Your Son, and that my place at Your table was purchased at the cross. Where my picture of fatherhood has been damaged, heal it, and let me see You as You truly are in Jesus. By Your Spirit, help me to cry Abba honestly today. Here are my worries and my failures; I bring them to You rather than hiding them. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Declaration

I am not a slave and I am not an orphan. I am an adopted child of God, and I come to my Father with confidence.

Pastor Ras

All Nations Community Church

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