"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you." (Exo 20:12)It's Father's Day. I thought I'd take a minute to look at what Scripture says about fathers. And the first one I came up with was this one.
It's an interesting command, isn't it? I mean, in our day fathers largely get a bad rap. Last month the Minnesota Conference of the United Methodist Church altered the Apostles Creed because "Father" wasn't inclusive enough. If it was a gender "protest", it was poorly done because they left "I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son" in place and "Son" is male, but they removed God the Father and replaced Him with "God the Creator." It looks to me as if it's a "father" problem. And, let's face it; there are too many bad fathers. Are we actually supposed to honor bad fathers? Apparently we are. Note that Paul, quoting this passage, considers obedience to be honoring parents (Eph 6:1-3). Note, also, that there is no "expiration date," either in Testament or age. That is, Paul repeats it, so it's still in effect today, and there is no point at which they cease to be your parents, so we must always honor them even after they are no longer our authority. Interesting. It appears, then, that God considers fathers to be worthy of honor regardless of their quality. As in government (Rom 13:1-2), we need to honor the position even if the man isn't honorable.
There is an undeniable correlation in Scripture between human fathers and God as Father. David wrote, "As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him." (Psa 103:13) That is, as we understand a good father, we understand God. As the father is head over the family, God is head over all (1 Cor 11:3). As the father is responsible for teaching and correcting (Eph 6:4); so is God our Father. As the father is to provide for his family (1 Tim 5:8), so does God our Father (Phil 4:19).
Remember Job? Scripture says of him that he would consecrate his children and offer prayers and offerings for them because "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." (Job 1:4-5) That's a father's heart -- our fathers for us and our Father for us. Jesus compared a son asking for a loaf or fish to us praying to God. "If you then, being evil, 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) A father's heart.
Fathers are not to provoke their children (Eph 6:4; Col 3:21), but they are supposed to instruct (Prov 4:1-4; Eph 6:4) and discipline them (Prov 19:18; Prov 13:24; Eph 6:4) as God does (Prov 3:11-12; Heb 12:7). It is, in God's view, possible to both instruct and discipline children without provoking or exasperating them. How? When the instruction and discipline is done in love, of course. When the motivating principle is love, there will be as much (more?) positive as negative reinforcement and much less tension (provocation).
In our society, fathers are often "throw-away" items. That's largely because too many fathers have thrown away their responsibilities. In biblical terms, fathers are critical, first as examples that imitate God the Father, then as compassionate, responsible teachers and providers for the family God provides.
My father has been such a man. Scripture speaks of him when it says, "The righteous who walks in his integrity — blessed are his children after him." (Prov 20:7) Telling you about that is one way to honor him. Scripture has another.
A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. (Prov 10:1)Honoring my father on Father's Day (and every other) is my aim. Honoring him by being wise and righteous is my aim, too. Happy Father's Day, Dad.
"The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him." (Prov 23:24)
Postscript
I found this verse in my search for references to fathers:
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. (Prov 13:22)To my kids: don't count on your father being a "good man". :)
2 comments:
An inheritance is hardly restricted to money, since that would restrict all the poor people from being good fathers. Our inheritance from you is worth far more than gold. You have taught us to be loving, considerate, rational, responsible, Christian men. That is worth more than money. I look at other options for a father out there and I'm thankful God gave me you.
An NBA player was said to have made something like $26 million in his NBA career. He was caught breaking into a house to steal stuff. Fatherlessness is an increasing trend in the USA, and I would be he had little to no interaction with his biological father.
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