Much has been said about calling God Abba. According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Thomas Nelson, 1986), Abba is an Aramaic word, meaning Daddy or Papa. One of our ministers recently served up an entire sermon on using that name when praying to him. To my 19-year–old grandson I said, “I can’t imagine calling God Daddy. Heavenly Father, yes. But Daddy? Saying that takes away his majesty. Makes him like us.”

My grandson, David, felt the opposite. “I can call him that,” he said. “He is much more my daddy than my dad ever was. He’s always been there for me where my dad never was until recently.”

Brennan Manning agrees with our minister and my grandson. His book, Posers, Fakers, & Wannabes (Navigators, 2003), carries an entire chapter entitled “Abba’s Child.” He writes, “Abba’s Child is who I am—that identity has become more valuable to me than any other.”

So why do I have a problem with that? Who is God to me? He loves me. He comforts me when I am hurt or sad. He encourages me through the Bible and through my friends. He disciplines me. I rely on him as my friend, my helper. He offers me forgiveness for my sins through the death of his beloved Son.

This I know and understand. It sheds light on the difference between my earthly daddy and my heavenly Father. My daddy forgave me when I disobeyed him, just as God does. However, my dad, as a human being, needed forgiveness as well.

Calvin Miller writes, “The dimensions of God are too immense and his reality too awesome to be limited to one small, artistic conception.” Or, I would add, to a word like Daddy.

From Louie Giglio comes a DVD about God called “Indescribable.” Fantastic pictures from outer space cause the greatness of the Creator of all I see and cannot see to overwhelm my mind. The film shrinks me down until with Louie I say, “I didn’t know I was so small.” But Louie emphasizes that in spite of our insignificance, this mighty God loves us. He is a father who loves his children.

Do I believe I am his child? First John 3:1 says I am: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.”

I know this is possible only because Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth and died in my place, taking away my sin. Because of this great love I am a child of God. I love him. I thank him. I praise him for the beauty he created, both seen and unseen. But I am too much in awe of him to call him anything but my heavenly Father.

Wait just a minute. My Quest Study Bible states that Abba can mean Father. Father or Daddy. It may seem odd, but to me, it makes all the difference. Happily, Manning gives me added insight. He goes back to childhood and brings forth an inner child. He says, “Rediscovering the inner child is not an end in itself but a doorway . . . into the vivid awareness that my inner child is Abba’s Child, held fast by him, both in light and in shadow.”

And so, although I do not feel free to call God “Daddy,” I can allow my inner child to be called Abba’s Child. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 15, 2009 - Bringing Christ to French Guiana
November 1, 2009 - Walking the edge
October 18, 2009 - Watch what you say
October 4, 2009 - Proposing a new proverb
September 20, 2009 - Fear and trembling
September 6, 2009 - Elwyn
August 23, 2009 - Where did the Bible go?
August 9, 2009 - The public school: a local mission field
July 26, 2009 - Astonishing the judges
July 12, 2009 - Letting the past go
June 28, 2009 - Line up
June 14, 2009 - The path to spiritual growth
May 31, 2009 - A tribute to one of my heroes
May 17, 2009 - Silent soldier
April 19, 2009 - Operation Resensitization
April 5, 2009 - The temptations of ministers
March 8, 2009 - Conversation over shoes
February 22, 2009 - By their plurals you shall know them
February 8, 2009 - What is missing from your retirement plans?
January 25, 2009 - Turn the page
December 14, 2008 - Elementary truths
November 30, 2008 - The illusion
October 19, 2008 - Acting like a toddler
October 5, 2008 - Don’t miss this
September 21, 2008 - Foolish schemes
September 7, 2008 - God’s hand is everywhere
August 24, 2008 - The dance
August 10, 2008 - Strange land
July 27, 2008 - God’s amazing grace
July 13, 2008 - A best seller
June 29, 2008 - My grandfather’s clock and worship
June 1, 2008 - Reclaiming the name
May 4, 2008 - God is not our fairy godmother
April 6, 2008 - Success: what is it and who can measure up?
March 9, 2008 - Need to know
February 10, 2008 - The top three myths of singleness
January 13, 2008 - By invitation only
December 5, 2007 - Yes, Abbie, there is a Jesus
November 18, 2007 - 10 Ways to be a good Christmas customer
October 21, 2007 - The dividing line
September 23, 2007 - What do you fear?
September 9, 2007 - A life well lived
August 26, 2007 - To murmur, or not to murmur
July 29, 2007 - The cross and the Christian
July 15, 2007 - Turning the other cheek: still a valuable biblical principle
July 1, 2007 - Why the tie?
June 3, 2007 - The death of a son
May 6, 2007 - A prayer for the dying
April 8, 2007 - The omnipresent God
March 11, 2007 - Do the Amish have superheroes?
February 11, 2007 - What’s your black history?
January 14, 2007 - The split branch
December 31, 2006 - The house of regret
December 10, 2006 - The redemption of the innkeeper
November 26, 2006 - Too many choices
November 12, 2006 - Break the bashing habit: Learning to love the unsaved like Christ does: November 12, 2006
October 15, 2006 - Be ‘salt and light’ this Christmas!: October 15, 2006
September 17, 2006 - Who is a legalist?: September 17, 2006 Issue 38
July 23, 2006 - God speaks through our brokenness: July 23, 2006 Issue 38
June 25, 2006 - 'What I am looking for in my church leaders'