Home > Reading > NALC Devotions – September 17, 2017

Today’s readings: 2 Samuel 24:1-2, 10-25; Galatians 3:23–4:7; John 8:12-20

“Who’s your daddy?” Toby Keith asked in his song of 2002. This phrase suggests someone is going to take care of you, or that someone else is in charge. The phrase has also been used as an insult to demonstrate dominating authority, sometimes in harmful ways. In today’s Scripture from the letter to the Galatians, Paul tells us that we are no longer outsiders, but heirs, hence sons and daughters of God. This gives us the privilege of his protection, love, and care. We are no longer orphans, conscripted slaves, or lost souls. We can call to him and say, “Abba! Father!”

We now can call on our Heavenly Father just as Jesus did on the cross when he cried out “Abba!” which is an intimate term similar to our word “daddy.” This puts us inside God’s family and has given us all the familiar access that any son or daughter has to their daddy. Even if you did not have the best relationship with your earthly mother or father, God becomes the perfect parent you may have never had. In his perfect way you are loved and cherished beyond all imagination. This truly is something we should celebrate!

Prayer: Abba, attend to my needs and show me your abundant life and love. Amen.

Today’s devotion was written by Randy Conley, Pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Hubbard Lake, MI.

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  • Today, we have so many estranged family relationships. Becoming a father doesn’t bring on the Abba title like it once did. On the TV series NCIS, Ziva, a Jewish woman had a strained relationship with her father and walked away from a meal at her NCIS Bosses house where her father was a guest. Shots rang out, her training as an agent kicked in and she ran towards the shooting to find everyone shot and her father dead. She cried out while crying, Abba, Abba. Much the same way we should call out to our Heavenly Father.