“Your heavenly Father.” – Matthew 6:26

God’s people are His children in a double sense: they are His by creation, and they are His sons and daughters by adoption in Christ. That is why they are privileged to say, “Our Father in heaven.”

Father—what a precious word this is. It speaks of authority: “If I am a Father, where is My honor?” And if we are sons and daughters, where is our obedience? Yet this authority is wrapped in love. It does not provoke rebellion, and the obedience it calls for is freely and joyfully given—an obedience that would not be withheld even if it could be. The obedience of God’s children must be loving obedience.

Do not serve God like slaves laboring under a harsh taskmaster. Run in the way of His commands because they are your Father’s ways. Present your bodies as instruments of righteousness because righteousness is your Father’s will—and a child’s desire should be to please his Father.

Father—here is royal authority gently hidden beneath love. The King’s crown fades from view as His face shines with tenderness. His sceptre is no longer a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy, almost forgotten in the compassionate hand that holds it.

Father—here is both honor and love. How deep is a father’s love for his children! What friendship cannot do, and mere kindness may never attempt, a father’s heart must do for his sons and daughters. They are his own; he must bless them. They are his children; he must defend them.

If an earthly father watches over his children with constant care, how much more does our heavenly Father watch over us? Abba, Father! Whoever can truly say this has spoken music sweeter than anything cherubim or seraphim can sing. Heaven itself is wrapped up in that single word—Father. In it is all I could ever ask, all my needs could ever require, all my hopes could ever reach. I have everything, for time and eternity, when I can say, “Father.”

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