If you are a father and celebrate Father’s Day today, happy Father’s Day to you!
Father! What an honorable call it is!
Thank you for being a father to your children. Thank you for raising the next generation. Yes, we depend heavily on you to have a better society tomorrow because your call of father-ness cannot be copied or duplicated. You are the only father your child has and no one can replace you as a father to your child. So, thank you for being there for your child/children.
Let me leave you with my two cent worth of advice that may help you be the father that God calls you to be:
- Lean on God to be the father God calls you to be because only God can make you the father you always want/desire to be;
- Spend time with your little kids – not only to give them shower or feed them or when they start school, to help them with their home works but just to listen to them when they talk and to laugh and play with them;
- Teach your kids to respect and honor you for the Bible says, “Honor your fatherand your mother – – – so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 5:16) – As you teach your kids to respect and honor you, you in a way protect their future, as you make sure that your children have a peaceful life, a life that goes well (“shalom”) with them;
- Teach your kids to love you and fear you – You teach them how to love by showing them love but at the same time, help them not to forget that you are their father, not their classmate. That means you teach them to revere you as their father.
- Remember, no one loves the person they fear/dread! If you make your kids “fear” you because you shout and scream at them for every little thing and physically threatens them when they do poor, then the fear you. This fear is not the kind of fear you want your children to have because there is “punishment” attached to this kind of fear. Pure or “perfect” love casts out or drives out this kind of fear (1 John 4:8). When your kids love and “revere” or fear you as their father, they obey you at your presence or absence;
- Give your kids your undivided attention and time, not to teach them anything but to just be with them and maybe learn from them, to let them teach you who they are and what their gifts and talents are;
- Treat your daughters and sons differently because they are created equally but differently. It is always good to know this basic sex differences;
- Teach your sons to be real men, respectful men; men who respect and protect women; to do that they need learn from you how to be tough physically and emotionally tough. That is why most boys love to fight and be physical with their dads and want to spend time more with their dads than their moms.
- Know that your daughter is different from your son. She wants to know if you think that she is beautiful. So, tell her how beautiful and attractive she is so she doesn’t go out and look for that validation and affirmation in all the wrong places at the age of 12;
- But the above nine points mean nothing if you don’t show love and care to the mother of your children. Your children actually get confused when you reject their mother and try to show them love and care. The ground on which you stand to show your fatherly love to your kids is call “loving your children’s mother.”
May God help you! And for sure, God helps those who run to Him for help and strength!
Happy Father’s Day! ///