“Your heavenly Father” (Matthew 6:26)

If you’re a Christian, God is your Father in two ways. He’s your Father because He caused you to be born in the flesh and He’s your Father because He caused you to be born in the Spirit. As His flesh offspring, you rebelled against Him and wanted nothing to do with Him. You didn’t glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in your thoughts, and your foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:21). But now that He’s made you His Spirit child, He pours love into your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), so you can honestly call Him “Abba”, an intimate Greek term for “father” (Romans 8:15). 

 In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will" (Mark 14:36). Christ obeyed His Father’s will when he was convinced there was no other way. He would have preferred to not suffer, but as a loving Son, He trusted His Father completely, and obeyed Him. The same Christ who called His Father Abba in the Garden of Gethsemane now calls His Father Abba through you. “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:6-7). 

 When Christ was asked the first duty of man, He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). He would soon prove this was not just an academic answer. He told His followers, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Now it’s your turn to follow Christ and obey the Father with unconditional love. 

 Imagine the Father as he looked upon His Son’s pain on the cross. Imagine the Father as He looks upon your pain as you carry your cross. “Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). There’s unconditional love in the word Abba! Contained in that word is every answer for every question you could ever ask.