Proverbs 20:7 “The righteous man who walks in his integrity – blessed are his children after him!”
God the Father. This is the name of one of the three Eternal Persons of the Trinity, a name we are encouraged to use when addressing him. When God the Son explained how to pray, he began his example with “Our Father.” Though the role of father is often and deservedly maligned because of human failings, the fact that God uses this name for himself tells us much about his view of fatherhood. It is a sacred role.
What is sacred must never be taken lightly. When fatherhood is done wrong, families collapse. In time, an entire civilization falls into chaos and ruin. When fatherhood is done right, however, families heal, grow strong, and experience favor down through the generations. Society as a whole benefits when fathers regard their role as sacred before God.
So today I celebrate fathers who put on the full armor of God every day to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11), who depend on God’s Spirit for power and love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7), who endure hardship as discipline (Hebrews 12:7), and who are watchful, strong, standing firm in the faith, acting like men, and doing everything in love (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). Keep going, faithful followers of Christ!
Father, thank you for men who still call upon your name, who make sacrifices to provide for their families, who invest time and energy to teach their children wisdom, who apply discipline with love, who introduce their children to Jesus and lead their families in following you. In this world of trouble, please help us as human fathers to live with such integrity and faithfulness that we bless generation after generation long after we are gone.
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This week: If the above descriptions don’t match your life, it’s not too late to change. God invites you into a deeper relationship with him. He can give you power to remake the ways you engage your wife and children. If your own father didn’t set a good example, ask God to break the chain of defeat that is keeping you from charting a new course, one that will bless your children and their children after them (and enjoy this song that reinforces God’s generational blessings in a beautiful way).
In addition to the verses mentioned in the text above, consider journaling this week on how to live as a father according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,11 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. … When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”