Fathers must reassure their children of an open door

The greatest commandment is Scripture is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). 

Going back to verse 2, we read, “So that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God, as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.”

Following Deuteronomy 6:5, we read: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Israelite history reveals that the father was to be diligent in instructing his children in the ways and words of the Lord for their own spiritual development and well-being.  

Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

To train indicates the first instruction that a father and mother give to a child, ie. his early education. 

Our best example of fatherhood, of course, is our Father in heaven, and the best story to show that is the story of the Prodigal Son. 

Transparency

The reason this is so universally applicable is that virtually everybody experiences what the Prodigal Son experienced, where we are sure we know better than our parents, and that we have it all figured out.

As the story goes, the Son goes off into a far country and squanders all his money. And when he runs out of money he runs out of friends and ends up in a hog wallow, eating from the slop that is fed to the pigs.

This is the most humiliating place a Jewish boy could possibly be.

As he sits there, the Bible says: “He came to himself.”

And he starts thinking, “How many of my father’s hired men have to spare?

And here I am, starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father.”

Now, notice something important, the son felt that he could go back to his father.  

The relationship might never be the same, but he knew the door was open to him. All through the time of raising his son the father had communicated his love.  

No matter how far you go, you can always come back home again.  

That kind of love is a vital thing to communicate to our children.

The Son says, “I will say to my father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men.”  

I think this was a speech he practised every step of his way back home. 

He had it down pat, but before he could blurt it out his father ran to him and threw his arms around him and kissed him. He had no fear of expressing love. 

The beautiful part is that our Father in Heaven always leaves the door open for us to come home again, and as fathers, we need to teach our kids that no matter how deep their sin, ‘You can always come home. 

There will be a Father waiting to throw his arms around you, and assure you of his abiding love.’

Another trait that a father should possess is a transparent life.

Paul writes, “We loved you so much that we delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well”.  

It is one thing to hear the gospel, but it is another thing to live it.  

What Paul is saying is that children need to see in their fathers, not just an authority figure, but someone who is real, someone whose heart has been touched and changed, who still makes mistakes and yet has the courage to admit that he has made those mistakes.  

So it is absolutely essential that we be genuine and that our children see that we not only worship here but that we worship at home. 

We not only read the Word of God here, but we read it at home.  

We not only pray here, but we pray every day of our lives, and they see the geniuses of our faith.

I believe we have a responsibility as parents to teach a good work ethic to our children.  

Respect

If our kids don’t see a father who is a hard worker and who has a good work ethic, they will never learn it. Teach by example.

A pagan home values things like pleasure, power, prestige and possessions.  

But in a Christian home, we learn that things we can’t see and hold on to, are really the most important.  

Christian discipline in needed to enable children to grow up with reverence for God, respect for parental authority, knowledge of Christian standards and habits of self-control.

In terms of authority, the father is deemed the head of his household.

Fathers are extremely important people in our lives. 

We’re charged with the duties of protecting, providing and interceding for our family’s sakes.  

We have the power to shape our families and societies by the ways in which we live every day.  

We are the first line of defence for our families and are commissioned by God to deliver the Good News of the Gospel message to our families, not just with words, but in the way we live every day.

Not just by the way we worship and pray on Sundays, but by the way we worship and praise every day of our lives.  

The greatest legacy a father leaves behind however is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  

It’s true. When a parent dies, their children expect to receive an inheritance.  

Sometimes that inheritance involves riches and sometimes it doesn’t. 

But there is no greater inheritance than the legacy a father leaves concerning eternal salvation.  

Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Fathers — the bottom line is, if we want to eradicate the many of the problems that are plaguing this society and many societies around the world, then it’s time for men to take their rightful place.

Be the man that God called you to be; the husband, the father, but most importantly the covering of your household.  

God never intended for you just to be a seed bearer.  

Children need a mother and a father — that is actively a part of their lives; not one who shows up when it’s convenient, like at sports day, to say ‘That’s my bye (boy)’.  

That’s not good enough!  

Today I want to leave you with this thought: If children learn by what they see, then what are you showing them?

What legacy are you leaving behind for your children?

When the sunset comes, wouldn’t it be wonderful if your child could stand and declare, ‘my father taught me many things, but most importantly he showed me what it meant to be a man, to put God first and all the rest will follow’.

Prayer

Let us pray:

Dear heavenly Father,

We stand before you today

Asking you to release a new revelation and understanding.

Lord we ask that you would unleash your blessings on the husbands, the fathers,

That they might know what it truly means for them to take their rightful place.

Dear God, our children are crying for their fathers to be there for them.

Lord let today be the beginning of healing the homes that have been divided as a result.

Let these men see that it doesn’t matter that their father wasn’t there for them.

But what does matter is that they put an end to the generational curse that the enemy is using to divide.

Show these men that man is at the head; his children will not stray because he has set the example for them to follow.

Lord we ask these things as only you can transform our hearts and our minds,

In Jesus’ name, we pray

Amen.