Abba Father

The sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah contains a well-known and glorious passage about Jesus : "I saw the Lord sitting on a very high throne, and the sides of his robe filled the temple" (Isaiah 6: 1). When I was younger, my vision of the Lord was that He was in a remote place, far from me, an entity to whom I had to address myself with respect, fear and reverence.

Yet, what does our holy and high God have to say about the little people, full of imperfections and sins, who follow Him ? Isaiah tells us : "For thus says the Most High, whose dwelling is eternal and whose name is holy : I dwell in high places and in holiness ; But I am with the contrite and humiliated man, to revive the humbled minds, to revive the contrite hearts" (57:15). Yes, our Father is holy, majestic and glorious - yet He humbles Himself to reside in our humble hearts and stained by sin.

I think all children instinctively know the difference between hating religion and loving Jesus. One day, when my daughter was little, she broke in between the pages of the newspaper I was reading. I was tired and chased her away, just wanting a few minutes to relax before working on the message I needed for the next Sunday. But she kept coming back, saying : "Dad, I have something to tell you." I continued to chase her away, all the while thinking of the clock ticking the minutes of my relaxation time. These back and forth stopped when I finally told her : "Honey, what do you want to tell me ?" She said : "I love you."

She knew the difference between religion - my perfectionism as a preacher - and Jesus who loves, and she was showing it to me. The Word of God makes it clear that He wants us to approach Him as my daughter did - just by calling our "Father", Abba, who is nearby, who is neither distant nor out of reach.

Gary Wilkerson