A Good Father

“You fathers – if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:11-13 NLT)

In all my years I’ve never met, nor even heard of any father saying that they didn’t want to be a good father. When I was growing up in the late 40’s and 50’s it was quite rare for families to be separated by divorce, but, like today, there were a lot of absentee fathers. They hadn’t necessarily “left” the family, but they were nonetheless, “absent.”

My dad was a very good father to me. He worked a lot, and we didn’t have much interaction during the week, but he made it a point to include us kids in whatever was going on over the weekend. He didn’t serve the Lord and we didn’t attend church except for Easter and maybe Christmas, but when I became a Christ-follower, he and my mom began attending church and soon began to follow the Lord as well.

The esteemed Evangelist Dr. Billy Graham wrote: “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” Although these words were spoken many years ago, they ring truer today than ever before.

If you’re a father today, your role in your wife and children’s lives is invaluable. Due to my divorce, I feel I’ve lost a lot of ground in my kids lives, but I continue to seek involvement and participation in their lives as much as they’ll allow. If you’re a father today, where are you in terms of your activity in your children’s lives? Are they a top priority or an afterthought? A blessing or a burden? A delight or a disappointment?

Have you ever wondered why Jesus connected fatherhood to the availability of and access to the Holy Spirit? I’m confident He had reasons that I will likely never understand, but the obvious implication for me is that on many levels, the value of our investment in our kid’s lives is in direct proportion to our dependence upon the Holy Spirit to guide and advise us.

Because of that we can’t ignore our role as a dad. We can’t excuse ourselves from our current responsibilities because “I never knew my dad,” or “I blew my chance and now my kids are grown.” Maybe you, like my dad, weren’t a believer when your kids were growing up and you believe any opportunity for you to influence your kids for the Lord is passed, but I choose to believe the Holy Spirit can continue to work in your life and the life of your child or children to bear fruit to the Lord’s honor.

One of the most powerful and helpful things you can do for your child(ren) is to pray for them every day. Pray the Lord will draw them to Himself; pray for their friends, classmates, teachers, anyone in their lives who has any influence over them, that it would point them to Jesus. Pray for the protection of their body, mind, and soul; that the Lord would remind them, in ways only they would recognize, of their need of Him.

One of our greatest temptations as fathers is to believe we’ve failed and there’s nothing we can do about it; that our opportunity to influence our children has passed; that the course of their lives is set and there’s no way they’ll ever change. I don’t believe that, but even if it was so, what about your grandchildren?

The role of a father never expires, even beyond the grave. The Lord has laid it on my heart to write my children and grandchild a letter they will receive upon my death. I want to tell them things in death they wouldn’t hear in life and let the Holy Spirit do what only He can in their lives.

It’s an honor to be called “dad,” so, regardless of how well you’ve fulfilled that role to date, determine today, right now, to do something positive to bless your kids and exalt your heavenly Father.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊