There is a war against fatherhood today. It's been going on for a generation or so, ever since the popular glorification of single-motherhood. In general, fathers are portrayed in cultural media as either bumbling idiots ineffectual leaders needing to be saved by their children, or inflexible throwbacks, struggling frantically to hold on to a glorious, irrelevant past (The Simpsons, a majority of recent Disney films, certain episodes of Dr. Who, Berenstein Bears, etc.), It's understandable, given the widespread de-masculinization of boys and men in literature, public education, films, TV shows, and the like. The result is modern men who have a murky picture, at best, of what it means to be a man and a father, and who struggle against the destructive stereotypes of perverse masculinity that abounds in the world today.
For all our big. big brains, human beings without God are idiots. And, collectively, the farther away from God we get, the more idiotic we become. I know this because at one time, and for most of my life, I was as far away from God as it is possible to be and still be among the living. When I was a younger, more stupid man, I looked at childhood and children as a disease that, if one were lucky, one recovered from in time, I was far too significant and progressive to be saddled with something as mundane and banal as fatherhood. Children were millstones of little value, far too much trouble to be worth it, a prison sentence to be avoided at all costs.
I have since learned the truth. Apart from and above everything else in life, the privilege of being a father is one of the most gracious gifts given by God to man. There is nothing that comes close in comparison; not material success, academic achievement, celebrity, power or prestige. It is a sacred and solemn honor, worthy of any and all personal sacrifice.
It is no accident that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through Christ, as Father. And as the two verses above indicate (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6, NKJV), not just Father in the formal, patriarchal sense, but in the uniquely close and special sense of a young, dependent child who longs for his or her 'Abba', or 'Daddy'. It is astounding that the Eternal, Omnipotent King of Kings and Lord of Lord, chooses for us his lowly creatures to relate to Him not as a distant, impersonal Power, but as a loving, devoted, nurturing and protective Father.
We men, as human fathers created in His image, are to mirror that example given to us, and reflect His fatherly attributes toward our own God-given children so that, by our example, we lead them into the Heavenly Kingdom, and enable each of our precious children to receive that gift beyond price; eternal life. I cannot conceive of a higher purpose for my life.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4, NKJV).
"Training and admonition", are the two positive instructions, preceded by the one negative of "do not provoke". But take note that it is not merely any human-centered training or correction, but that "of the Lord", founded upon and revealed within "the whole counsel of God".
Christian fathers are commanded to be accountable for the family. To be bold, but unprovocative leaders, providing righteous guidance and correction. To assume responsibility for the physical, emotional, and above all, spiritual well-being of those under our care. We are guaranteed sometimes to falter. We will sometimes require a sternness that brooks no compromise, and a steadfastness of purpose and love that defies our natural human capability, but the rewards and joy are beyond calculation.
As the Apostle John wrote, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4, NKJV).
For all our big. big brains, human beings without God are idiots. And, collectively, the farther away from God we get, the more idiotic we become. I know this because at one time, and for most of my life, I was as far away from God as it is possible to be and still be among the living. When I was a younger, more stupid man, I looked at childhood and children as a disease that, if one were lucky, one recovered from in time, I was far too significant and progressive to be saddled with something as mundane and banal as fatherhood. Children were millstones of little value, far too much trouble to be worth it, a prison sentence to be avoided at all costs.
I have since learned the truth. Apart from and above everything else in life, the privilege of being a father is one of the most gracious gifts given by God to man. There is nothing that comes close in comparison; not material success, academic achievement, celebrity, power or prestige. It is a sacred and solemn honor, worthy of any and all personal sacrifice.
It is no accident that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through Christ, as Father. And as the two verses above indicate (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6, NKJV), not just Father in the formal, patriarchal sense, but in the uniquely close and special sense of a young, dependent child who longs for his or her 'Abba', or 'Daddy'. It is astounding that the Eternal, Omnipotent King of Kings and Lord of Lord, chooses for us his lowly creatures to relate to Him not as a distant, impersonal Power, but as a loving, devoted, nurturing and protective Father.
We men, as human fathers created in His image, are to mirror that example given to us, and reflect His fatherly attributes toward our own God-given children so that, by our example, we lead them into the Heavenly Kingdom, and enable each of our precious children to receive that gift beyond price; eternal life. I cannot conceive of a higher purpose for my life.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4, NKJV).
"Training and admonition", are the two positive instructions, preceded by the one negative of "do not provoke". But take note that it is not merely any human-centered training or correction, but that "of the Lord", founded upon and revealed within "the whole counsel of God".
Christian fathers are commanded to be accountable for the family. To be bold, but unprovocative leaders, providing righteous guidance and correction. To assume responsibility for the physical, emotional, and above all, spiritual well-being of those under our care. We are guaranteed sometimes to falter. We will sometimes require a sternness that brooks no compromise, and a steadfastness of purpose and love that defies our natural human capability, but the rewards and joy are beyond calculation.
As the Apostle John wrote, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4, NKJV).
