Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)Today is Father’s Day. I guess one of the sad things about today is that if you forget about it, it doesn’t count as much as if you had forgotten about Mother’s Day.
But it shouldn’t be that way. Being a mother is great (not that I have ever been one, of course) but there is no single force on a child that is quite like a father.
When God likened himself to someone, it was to a father. He called himself a Father, and the Bible calls him that over and over. There is only a couple of places that he likens himself to a mother and both are commenting on his natural love.
But a Father? He calls himself that again and again. Why? I believe the reason is simple.
A mother has to love her child. She birthed the child, she nurtured it and most of the time even fed it from her own body. She has to love the kid. That is why mothers will lie through their teeth on the witness stands for their children, why they will excuse almost any behavior, why they will defend their children against overwhelming evidence.
A father, on the other hand, chooses to love his children. He is the instructor, the guide, the authority figure that God gave to each family of humanity. A family without that father figure is hurt by the absence.
You can look at any reputable study and see that families with strong father figures have much less chance of children getting into trouble than those without. That is not to say a mother cannot lead her family, but she was never made to do so by God. The father was.
That is why it is so pathetic to see the number of young men who feel it is their privilege to impregnate as many women as they can with no responsibility. They are denying what God wanted them to do and have become foolish.
I enjoyed a strong father figure in my life as did my wife. I tried to be a strong father figure and both my kids turned out good. I enjoy seeing my son be a father to his son. It is the natural order of things.
Fathers teach, they protect, they provide, they train, they discipline and above all they give strong love, not based on the fact that they have to, but because they choose to. That is why men can raise children they know are not theirs. They have chosen. It is the natural order of things.
Part of our society’s problems has been a war on fathers and it has damaged our children as well as our culture.
It can change with you, if you are a father. It can also change with you if you are a wife and mother. Love your husband enough to give him the chance to lead your family and love your children.
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