Daddy's Girl

 

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

—1 John 3:1

I probably did not even know what calling someone “Daddy’s girl” meant. But, looking back, I can see that the moniker fit me. From spending time in the barn with my farmer dad, to riding the work horses, to gathering eggs from the hens, to riding through the woods collecting sap for maple syrup, and to the “tickle torture” on the couch, I knew my father loved having me around.

We see this kind of love from the father of a newborn baby.

He looks on with intense anticipation as his wife labors. He cries with joy as he gets the first look at the baby. He lovingly tends to the baby while mom is tended to by the nurses. He proudly carries the baby down the hallway to the waiting room and announces his or her arrival. He is proud. He is a father. This is the moment he gets to tell everyone the news. That child will never have to wonder who Dad is. The father lavishes love upon the child so that the child’s identity is bound up in the father’s love.¹

If someone looking at a child can say, “It is evident that her father loves her,” then certainly, when people see us and the blessing of God’s presence in our lives, they should be able to say the same thing about God’s relationship with us.

God’s written Word refers to us as the “apple of God’s eye” (Psalm 17:8). He, who planned for us long before He created the world, has provided for us a beautiful world in which to live. After we disappointed Him by disobediently putting up the sinful barrier between us, He made a way to sacrifice His Son to bring us back into fellowship.

[1 John 3:1] reminds us that God not only calls us his children; he makes us his children. He has done all the work of adoption and given us the gift of his divine family. Because of this truth, we can have all the assurance that God is faithful, true, sure, and full of love… Claim this promise today: you are a child of God!²

Let’s rejoice in God’s presence today and thank Him that He has created us and blessed us with such lavish love. And, let’s be glad that He delights in knowing us, really knowing us.

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1 LaGrone, Jessica; Andy Nixon; Rob Renfroe; Ed Robb. Under Wraps. Nashville, TN: Abington Press, 2014. Pp. 91, 92.

2 Ibid.