“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” –Romans 8:15
It has been said that this current generation is a “fatherless generation.” According to the 2010 census, 34% of children under 18 do not live in a 2-parent household. Fatherlessness can lead to all sorts of fears and insecurities. Many people without fathers experience loneliness, a feeling of danger, distrust, and being unsure of life’s unpredictability and uncertainty.
Fear is an emotion that has relentlessly haunted humanity since the garden and the fall. It began with distrust of the Father’s love and our disobedience forcing its way onto the scene. The result of this fall was our hiding from our true Father out of our guilt and shame. We have been hiding in fear ever since then, “fatherless.”
God, in His love and mercy, chose not to abandon us, disappoint us, or fail us, as some of our earthly fathers have. God has sought us out in our hiding. When he found us, He drew us gently toward Himself, in His great mercy and love, in order to restore us and give us His resurrection life. As Jesus said in John 6:34, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
While we were rebelling against a Holy God and hiding in fear and shame, God gave us His Spirit to eradicate all our fears and insecurities and to adopt us as His very own sons and daughters, allowing us once again to walk with Him in the cool of the day and call him “Papa!” or “Abba, Father!” never to have to fear again.
Jesus, thank you for drawing us to yourself through your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your resurrection life, and for adopting us as your children, removing all our fears. May we allow you to be our ‘Abba, Father,’ listen to your teaching, and enjoy your everlasting life. Amen.
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