Think about it. I was named after Daddy Jack. No I'm not a boy, so I received the name "Jackie" (Jacqueline). Daddy's baby girl. Understand, I understand the reality of physical death, but I more so understand the reality of eternal life or death. My heart rejoices that I know one day Daddy will live again. Yes, Jack accepted Jesus Christ into his life as his Lord and Savior. The best choice we all need to make. I never stopped loving or missing Daddy. I can remember that Sunday morning getting dressed for service. I had to preach that day. The phone rang, I answered hey cous. I could see the number. It was cousin, Nita. She quietly said hey Jackie. Then proceeded to say Jackie, Jack died this morning.
I broke. I lost my strength. I fell to the floor with a loud cry from my inward parts. My life has changed in a moment. In a twinkling of an eye. We had recently moved to North Carolina. I was getting closer to Jack in distance. Yes, there were times I called him Jack. That's the kind of relationship we had. I started a new job the August before he died. I was going to see Daddy within the next four months. I know today our ways are not God's ways and our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
I went to see one of my favorite movies this weekend, The Lion King. Yes, the Lion King. It's such a powerful movie. Cymba went through when his father died, but found strength when he came to the understanding that his father lived in him. So I'm happy to say that the memories of Daddy Jack lives in me. Daddy is now in a better place. Abba Father continues to be with us. Let's draw closer to Abba day by day.
ABBA (www.learnthebible.org)
Abba is the transliteration of the Aramaic word for father. It occurs three times in the New Testament. It is always used as a direct address to God the Father. In Mark 14:36
, Jesus uses it when He asks the Father to take away his cup. In Romans 8:15
and Galatians 4:6
, it is the cry of the Spirit of God in the believer.
, Jesus uses it when He asks the Father to take away his cup. In Romans 8:15
and Galatians 4:6
, it is the cry of the Spirit of God in the believer.
Historically, this word would be used during New Testament times by a child addressing his or her father. It would have been akin to the modern use of papa. However, the New Testament writers are careful to avoid too great a familiarity in addressing God. Instead of translating Abba, they transliterate it, so that it takes on special significance in reference to God. Then, Abba is used in conjunction with the word Father – “Abba, Father.” Father is the translation of Abba, but by putting the two together, the address to God is both personalized and kept in the proper tone of respect. The double title has both intimacy and dignity.
By His nature as the Son of God, Jesus had the right to familiarly address His Father. The occasion where we see this is in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus struggled with the cup He was to drink. In His human spirit, He desired the cup to be removed. Yet, in His obedience as the Son, He declared, “nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36
). This incident provides a glance into the intimate communion between the Father and the Son. The Son’s faithfulness to obey the most difficult of acts, an act by which the holy Son of God became sin for mankind, was proof of the depth of His love for the Father (John 14:31
).
By his union with Jesus Christ, the believer enters into the same intimacy with the Father. Instead of the fear of bondage, the believer receives “the Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15
) and enters into “the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:5
). By reason of this sonship, “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6
). The legal relationship is created by adoption; the intimacy is assured by the entrance of Jesus Christ into our hearts. We then cry, “Abba, Father,” with the Spirit of the Son. As stated in 1John 1:3
, “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
