The word a child uses

Abba is an Aramaic word for father, the warm, familiar word a child in Jesus' day would have used at home. It appears three times in the New Testament, and every single time it is spoken to God.

The first time, Jesus says it in the garden of Gethsemane, on the night before the cross. Overwhelmed with sorrow, he fell to the ground and prayed: "Abba, Father," he said, "all things are possible for You." In his darkest hour he did not reach for a formal or distant title. He spoke to God the way a son speaks to the father he trusts completely.

The astonishing thing is that Paul says we can pray the same way. The Spirit we have received is not a spirit of slavery that leads us back into fear. It is the Spirit of adoption, and by him we cry, "Abba! Father!"

You do not have to earn a place in God's family, or keep proving that you belong there. If you are in Christ, you are his child, fully wanted and fully loved. You can come to him with the closeness and confidence of a child running into a father's arms.

Reflect

• When I pray, do I tend to approach God as a distant authority to be managed, or as a loving Father who welcomes me?
• What would change in my prayers, and in my day, if I really believed I was wanted in God's family?

Prayer: Abba, Father, thank you for adopting me into your family through Jesus. Free me from the fear that keeps me at a distance. Teach me to come to you with the trust and closeness of a child, knowing that I am loved and always welcome in your presence. In Jesus' Name, Amen.