Can I Call You Daddy?

Daily Devotional – Saturday, June 14, 2025
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1 (NIV)

“Can I call you Daddy?” That was little Alex’s question when he arrived at his new home.
If you had asked at the orphanage who the most difficult child was, Alex always topped the list. No one knew the parents of the infant who had been left at the orphanage gate, wrapped in a threadbare baby shawl, six years earlier.

Children of God

The home was popular with parents looking to adopt, but none ever took an interest in the problematic Alex. He watched as his friends were chosen one by one, each finding a new home and someone to call “Mummy” or “Daddy.”

Then it happened. One day, a couple visited the home and specifically requested to adopt Alex. Despite the administrators’ caution, the prospective parents insisted on taking him. That’s why Alex was so surprised that anyone would agree to become his daddy.

The apostle John had people like Alex (and us) in mind when he marveled, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). What a privilege for confirmed sinners, problematic, tainted by years of misery, to be regarded as children of God!

Can I Call You Daddy?

When we believe in Christ, we become God’s children instantly (John 1:12). We may be soiled, angry, difficult, or hurting, like Alex, but none of that discourages God. He specializes in creating something out of nothing, in fashioning vessels of honor from common clay.

If for any reason you feel unworthy, unloved, or unwanted, remember this: you can call God “Daddy.” When people don’t understand you, mistreat you, or abandon you, take heart; you are a child of the God of the universe. What a privilege to be God’s child!

Prayer
Almighty God, today I just want to pause and thank You for saving a sinner like me and allowing me to call You Daddy.