Every Day Is Father’s Day

“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” — Luke 11:11-12

It was Father’s Day yesterday.  A day to recognize fathers and remind them that they are valued. At least that is the hope.  That they are valued, that is.  God has placed man in a place of responsibility to love his wife and serve her (Ephesians 5:25), and to raise their children in “training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). What a responsibility.  Father’s Day is supposed to be recognition of the fulfillment of those responsibilities.  Many men are drawn to the idea of the authority that comes with the role of father and give little consideration to the responsibility that comes with it. 

I cannot be the father that God intends apart from the power of God in my life. My flesh will always get in the way. There are so, so many broken homes today.  Abandoned families.  And the sins of the fathers ripple through the generations.  By abandoning the responsibilities that come with fathering children, with being a husband, we give our children and wives a stone when they need bread, a snake when they need a fish.

Like Paul, I have a clear understanding that there is nothing inherently good that comes from my flesh, which is sinful.  The only good that is in me is spiritual, which comes from the Father of fathers.  Thank God that He is the Restorer of broken things.  When I have failed as a father, and we all have, He is able to overcome those failures. To restore the years the locusts have eaten. (Joel 2:25)

So do you want to be a better father? Or do you want your husband to be a better father? Or do you want your dad to be a better father?  For that to happen, as God intended and as wives and children hope for, the man must be first devoted to his Father in heaven.  

Don’t intend for my words to be critical of fathers, but merely to remind myself of others of the great responsibility we have a fathers and the source of the power to fulfill that responsibility.  Thank you Jesus.