Romans 8:15-16
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
I hope you are not shocked by today’s title. Several years ago I was having a conversation with two clerks outside one of our local grocery stores. They were talking to me about prayer and how God works in the life of people. (That is worth shopping for groceries any old day).
One of them told this delightful story. Her sister’s boy was attending services in a Catholic church with his parents and grandparents. He was at the end of the pew, and after a time he had slipped down to the floor and was playing with a necklace with a cross attached.
It suddenly became very quiet in the church as the priest looked down to where the young boy was swinging the necklace around and around in a circle. To the utter embarrassment of his family, he shouted out loud, “Hang on Jesus, you’re going for a ride!”
We howled as we imagined the scene in the church that day. It made me think of the times that little ones have shown their sheer delight in the house of the Lord. One Sunday night many years ago, following the service, several of us were standing in the front of the church talking. Suddenly a young boy came down the center aisle doing summersaults.
His mother was in dismay. She apologized and turned to stop him. The pastor laughed and stopped her. He commented that he wished he had enough energy to do that and besides it was the most life he had seen in the church for a long time.
This is not to imply that we are to be sacrilegious in God’s House. But when you stop and think about it, the greatest sacrilege we can demonstrate is to ignore God. We can be so sanctimonious that it is hard to tell if we are alive or dead.
The term, “ABBA’, used in today’s passage of Scripture, is a term used by small children in Bible times to mean, daddy or dada. It identifies close personal relationship. It is that close personal relationship that God desires for us to have with Him.
It is not spiritual or desirable to act like we have been baptized in vinegar. God does not want us to become frozen ice cubes of spirituality. Jesus loved children, and I am sure that some of them that crowded onto His lap said and did things that embarrassed their parents. It had no effect on the Master. In fact He urged us to become like little children.
It is foolish to put on a facade (that’s a fancy word for false front), and act more spiritual than we really are. Jesus wants us to run headlong into His arms and be filled with the excitement of being with Him. I recall one of the little girls in our church surprised her family when they started up the driveway to our church. She laughed and pointed, and said, “Jesus lives there!” I want to be like that!
My prayer is that Jesus might take me into His mighty arms, and whisper sweetly in my ear, “Hang on Cecil, you’re going for a ride!” “Oh, please, dear Lord. Give me the thrill of a child, as I do the work that you have enabled me to perform. Never allow me to become like an adult who loses the thrill of a good ride!”
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil