What is a father? A father is a man – a human male – created by God in His image. A man becomes a father when, with his wife, the two of them “become one flesh” and bring a child into the world.
Now the question is: Do we fathers know how to be a father?
Many of us do not. Why is that? The main reason is we were never taught how to become a father. We should learn by watching our fathers and grandfathers to see how they did things as we grew up. Sadly, many people have had extremely negative experiences with their fathers, both biological and stepfathers. So, where can we learn what we must learn to be good fathers?
Like anything else, if you seek an answer, there is no better place to go than “God’s words.” God himself is a father. As men who are the sons of God through our salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, we have God as our Heavenly Father. Who else is better to learn from? And our best instruction manual is the Bible. God shares in His word what a perfect father is.
We, like God, have roles and responsibilities to our children. Here are some characteristics of our heavenly father that we can imitate.
- We can have a personal relationship with God, our Father. We need to have a personal relationship with our children.
- God is a loving father. We are to be an image and a likeness of God, so we should also be loving fathers to our children.
Can we do this? I would have to say yes, but we cannot do it alone. We must lean on our Father and pray for wisdom, understanding, forgiveness, and the strength to correct our children in love when they do something wrong.
One of the most talked about stories in the Bible is Luke 15: 11-32, the parable of the Prodigal Son. Aren’t we all prodigal sons? Have we all turned our back on God our Father at one time or another? We, as fathers, can learn a thing or two from this parable. God, our Father, will give you and me the desires of your heart; he will not stop us, as we have free will. Just as the father in the parable did with his son, giving everything he asked for, this son went into the world, and the world destroyed him. Does that sound familiar? It happens to us all. Just as the son finds out that our world is not healthy, he decides to go back to his father and ask forgiveness, saying I have sinned against heaven and your father. Like the father in the parable, our God, our Father, has compassion and is always looking and waiting for us to return.
Fathers, we play a particularly vital role in God’s design of raising children and leading a family. The world wants to destroy our role. God wants us to learn and follow Him to be a father closer to His design for the families He has blessed us with. We all know that there is no perfect father. We all have fallen short of the Glory of God. However, we can strive to become a better father when we decide to follow God’s example. Men stand strong; our children and wives need us to be godly fathers and husbands. They are counting on us. When we learn to love unconditionally, freely forgive, and correct when needed, we become the father God has called us to be. My prayer is that we, as fathers and men, take our role as a father as seriously as our Father in heaven is about his role.
We from GTH Ministries would like to wish you all a very blessed and happy Father’s Day.
MSgt. Bert Schmidt (Ret), MNST
Founder, Gateway to Heaven Ministries
[Benjamin Gray and Gramerly AI edits included]
C: 208-587-0150
O: 931-771-2682
https://gthministries.org/
These are the passages Bert studied when preparing this message, we always encourage you to read the Word for yourself and let God speak to you through the Holy Spirit.
He is the source of truth and love( John 17:17,1 John 4:16)
He gives us life (Act 17:25, 1 Tim 6:13)
He loves us (John 3:16)
He rewards our efforts (Luke 6:35, Hebrews 11:6)
He communicates with us through His Word (John 17:17, 1 Thessalonians 2:13)
He allows us to communicate with Him through prayer (1 John 5:14)
He is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere) (Romans 11:33-36)
He is absolute holiness (Psalm 99:9)
No darkness exists within him(1 John 1:5)
He is just yet merciful(Psalm 116:5)
He gave humans the gift of free will, by not forcing anyone to follow him. (Gen 2:16-17)