Today is Father’s Day, a day American children set aside to honor their fathers with praise, service and/or gifts showing them how much they appreciate and value the role their fathers played in their lives. The accolades are warranted because it is certainly an awesome responsibility in raising a child, especially in today’s harsh environment. That responsibility of childrearing is ever highlighted when one searches the Scriptures to see what God’s take is on fatherhood. There’s literally a plethora of things God has to say about being a father, but I’m going to talk about just three that are modeled by God.
Fathers are responsible to protect their children at all times.
Fathers protect their children from a variety of harmful situations: like keeping them from walking in front of moving vehicles, from wild animals bent on hurting the weak, and from poisonous things they may accidentally ingest, to name just a few. But it’s not just in the physical world where fathers are inclined to protect their children. They must also consider the spiritual world where demonic beings are hellbent on harming an innocent child. Paul addresses this issue in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 where he talks about the heavenly Father’s protection, “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.” Fathers must consistently pray over their children daily because the spiritual attacks are relentless and consistent.
Fathers are tasks with providing sustenance for their children.
Fathers providing sustenance for their children is a basic tenet of the Christian faith for the Bible says, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Basic provisions of food, clothing and shelter should constantly be on a father’s mind. In addition, it is their responsibility to also provide spiritual sustenance, the feeding of God’s Word. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 Moses instructs the Israelites to feed their children the commands he gave them at the base of Mt. Sinai. He was emphatic that they, “impress them on your children.” It is this spiritual guidance that will guide their children to love the Lord with all their heart, mind and souls, shaping them into men/women whose hearts are completely devoted to God.
Fathers are to instruct their children in the ways of the world and the ways of God.
Fathers are to train their children how to deal and cope with worldly situations. Virtues like respect, honesty, perseverance, hard work and integrity should be mimicked so that children will know what they look like. In addition, fathers need to teach their children good financial management, business acumen and how to build solid personal relationships, especially in marriage. Of utmost importance is to teach their children the difference between wisdom of the world and wisdom that comes from the throne of God. In doing so, their children will be better equipped to not just honor God in all they do but have the blessings of obedience God promises to those who follow His commandments (Deuteronomy 28).
Yes, fathers are to be honored for they bare a great responsibility to the world, that of raising respectful, loving and obedient children. It’s good that we set aside one day of the year to give them that honor. We hope you take the time to do just that on this esteemed day.
Other articles you may like:
Save this Pin for Later! Sharing is Caring!
Have you signed up for our email list? If you give us your email address, we’ll make sure you never miss a post and are kept up to date on all the latest resources that we offer (average of only one to two emails/week). You can also choose to read through the Bible in one year with us. We'll send you the reading assignment each week with a snippet highlight (average of one email/week). We promise that we will not sell your information and you can be removed from the list at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each of our emails. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
Below are the latest offers from our Affiliate Partners. Please click the links and visit their sites.
They have lots of products at great prices. We may make a small commission if you purchase through these links which help keep this website up and running and the best part is... there is no extra cost to you! Read our Disclosure for more information. For more details on each affiliate see our "Shop" page.
