"When our Saviour was on earth, and in great humility conversant with mankind; when he sat at the tables, and washed the feet, and healed the diseases of his creatures; yet did not his disciples give him any more familiar name than Master, or Lord. And now, at the right hand of his Father's Majesty, shall we address him with ditties of embraces and passion, or language which it would be disgraceful in an earthly sovereign to endure? Such expressions, it is said, are taken from Scripture: but even if the original application, which is often doubtful, were clearly and unequivocally ascertained, yet though the collective Christian church may very properly be personified as the spouse of Christ, an application of such language to individual believers is as dangerous as it is absurd and unauthorized." - Reginald Heber (152)
We would not walk up to an earthly king and say "hey dude!", but how much more ought we to be careful how we talk about and to the Holy Creator God. Just recently, I have heard someone refer to God as "the man upstairs" (honestly, I had hoped that this phrase had died in the 90's). How can we talk about God like this?? Let us cry "Abba, Father" to our heavenly Father, but not without the honor and respect due his name. When Isaiah saw the heavens opened and heard God speak what was his response? to fall down on his face and cried out "Woe is me... because my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts." It wasn't "Hey Buddy!! how's it going?" Even the Angels covered their faces and declared "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of Hosts."
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