PASTOR’S CORNER

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 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 8:14-15 This last Sunday we celebrated our fathers and the influence they had in our lives. I saw many a post on Facebook from my friends praising their fathers and saying how wonderful they were and how thankful they were to have grown up with such great Dads. I lost my dad when he was 62 in 1999, and I have to tell you I miss him all the time. On Father’s Day I cannot help but think of things he said and did, and would love to be able to put my own posts up about what he means to me. Since I can’t do that, it is important for me to remember and be thankful. So much of who I am, I can say comes from the influence of my Father, and for that I will always be thankful.

But there is one who is even a bigger influence in my life. My heavenly Father the one who ultimately created me has become the One in which I believe we should always remember, always celebrate and always thank. If it weren’t for God the Father, we wouldn’t have anything to celebrate! When a person chooses to follow God by confessing faith in Jesus Christ, they (we) as scripture points out become adopted into the family of God. In other words like it says above we are children of God. As much as I loved being my Father’s son, I have to tell you that for me to be able to say the Lord of all creation is my Father is something that is incomparable to anything else in life.

The idea that Paul described in Romans just blows me away. I remember always calling my Father, Dad. I never used any other name. It was an intimate name, and I used it whenever I talked with him, because I knew when I said it, I would have his attention. I also knew that he loved me, and would do literally anything he could for me. Well, guess what? As Paul says in Romans we being adopted into sonship with our heavenly Father cry out “Abba” which literally means “Daddy!” We can call God, the one and only God of all creation Daddy! And when you understand that, you also understand that He loves you, and as scripture points out, He will never leave you or forsake you! No matter what our lives look like our heavenly Daddy will always be there for us! Always! Thank you God for being my Father, My Daddy, and if I had a picture of you, I would definitely be putting it out there as THE BEST FATHER EVER!!

(Editor’s Note: This column is written by a different Littlefield pastor for the Leader-News each week. The columns are published on this page on Wednesdays.)