Confession:
I still call my parents “Mommy and Daddy.”
No, I’m not from the south. And I’m not trying to be Joel Osteen.
When we were kids, in our family, we called our parents “Mommy and Daddy.”
As I got older, I realized it didn’t sound very grown up or sophisticated to be calling them “Mommy and Daddy.”
I tried a few other variations: Mom, Dad, Mother, Father… I even tried calling them by their first names.
The Mom/Dad, Mother/Father variations didn’t feel comfortable to me – it made me feel like I was addressing someone else’s parents.
My parents were insulted when I tried calling them by their first names. My dad actually had a conversation with me about it – he told me it hurt his feelings when I called him “Bill.”
So, I’ve stuck with “Mommy and Daddy” all these years.
Yup, I’m 38 years old and I call my parents “Mommy and Daddy.”
The names aren’t very sophisticated or grown-up sounding, but they are tenderly affectionate.
Jesus, when he was 33 years old, prayed to his Heavenly Father just before enduring all the suffering of the cross…
“Abba, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Mark 14.36)
He addressed his Heavenly Father as “Abba.”
Abba is Aramaic – it was the intimate name used by children for their fathers.
It combines some of the intimacy of the English word “papa” and the dignity of the word “father.”
Abba is both informal and yet respectful.
It was an endearing name for a dad, rather than a title, and was one of the first words a child learned to speak.
The word Abba expresses warm affection and a child’s confidence in their father.
Jesus called our Heavenly Father “Abba” – and the Bible says we should too…
“You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8.15)
“Because we are his children, God has spent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4.6)
Grace changes how we talk to God.
Grace causes us to relate with God as “Abba,” Daddy.
When you see God as “Abba,” you will approach him both informally and respectfully – not sophisticated or grown-up sounding, but tenderly affectionate and confident as His child.
