Little do we realize the blessed privilege it is to have a father walk by our side. Even if it is for but a very short time, God uses the role of a father in our lives that leaves an indelible touch upon our character.
It
isn’t easy to be a father. It never has been. Every father has a tender
place in his heart where he knows that at times, he has fallen short of
being the Dad his kids needed him to be at some integral time in their
childhood. We all have experienced that regret as a father.
We
know the times that we have let our children down, and as a consequence
we have fallen from that privileged place of being the perfect father,
their number 1 hero, and the only one they could always depend upon who
would always protect them and never let them down.
That
is quite a challenging place to be in, while we see our own
imperfections in the mirror of our soul. We fathers will all at some
time, let our children down in one way or another. It is inevitable. At
times, it tugs at the periphery of your mind like a hungry mosquito on a
hot summer night. Always there, but hard to see, let alone deal with
it.
The
role and responsibility
of being a father seems indelibly laced with more chances to fail, than
to
succeed. Deep inside, we want to be the best fathers we can be. It is
sobering to remember that we are called to be their father, and that may
at times prevent us from being their "Best Friend."
The
Heartache of a Father
There are fathers across the world, who are unable to be with their children today for many reasons. They may be
away on the battlefield as a soldier; they may be working at a job in a faraway
place that did not allow them to be with their children this day; their
children may not wish to be with them or are being prevented from being with
them; or their child may have passed away, or they may not even know where
their child is.
The
Primary Responsibility of a Father
Every child ever brought in this world bears the
mark of Adam in his or her nature, and is born with an innate bent toward
rebellion and resisting any kind of authority
“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother
conceived me.” Psalm 51:5.
Any
parent who remembers the toddler stage, sometimes
called the terrible 2’s, knows this tendency well. As childish rebellion
begins
to emerge, the power struggle becomes the primary stress in parenting,
especially if you were blessed with a strong willed child.
Fathers (parents) are called upon, as they
discipline their children to
“not exasperate your children; instead, bring them
up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:2)
There is such a challenging balance between disciplining them and instructing them, and no one will do it perfectly.
The
Primary Responsibility of every Child
Children are called upon to honor and obey their
parents. This is the primary way they can demonstrate their respect and love
for them.
“Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and
mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise “so that it may go well
with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” (Eph. 6:1-3)
The
Primary Goal of the Heavenly Father
God’s primary goal for all fathers is for them to be a
catalyst to begin the work of shaping the will of their children to willingly yield to
Him one day, without breaking the child’s spirit.
Fathers
are to seek to shape each child's
innermost heart with the Word of God as His map, and the heart of God as
his method ( See Psalm 119). He desires fathers to teach their
children the Scriptures so as to know and practice right from wrong, and
ultimately
to turn their lives over to their God, who reigns over their destiny (See Deuteronomy 6:1-9). They too must ultimately learn that one day they will stand before God to
give an account of their life, and they must understand that before they head out into the
world as adults.
The
Problem with Free Will
“Behold,
all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is
mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.”
( Ezekiel 18:4)
Because every child can exercise free will to choose
or reject a father’s counsel, we as fathers have very little control over the
outcomes of the children we have born into this world. They must make a well
informed choice one day.
“…the
son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear the
iniquity of the son…” (Ezekiel 18:20)
Every child must someday yield their life
individually to the Heavenly Father, and repent of their sin, and accept His Son’s
sacrifice to give them access to His Kingdom and His heart.
“But
if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all
my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he
shall not die (referring to eternal death as opposed to physical death).”
(Ezekiel 18:21)
A Precious and Privileged Adoption
Jesus
called out to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of His
crucifixion using an intimate form of the word we know as "Daddy."
“…and He was saying, “ Abba! Father! All things are
possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You
will.” Mark 14:36
As
joint-heirs with Christ we are adopted into that privileged intimate
role when we are made a new creation in Christ, whereby we can call out
to our Heavenly Father using the same precious endearment.
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery
leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by
which we cry out, “ Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
“Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts, crying, “ Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6
The
Heartache of the Heavenly Father
He Gave a Priceless Gift
The
Heavenly Father has provided a sin bearer to
take away our sins. His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ. We will never in
this lifetime understand or fully appreciate the incredible cost that
provided a means for us to have access to the Father Heart of God.
“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
By accepting
Jesus Christ’s vicarious substitutionary sacrifice, the fallen
nature of Adam will be replaced by Christ’s nature, and a person's sins will reach
back to Calvary, where Jesus has already paid the price. He died for each of
our children and all of mankind.
It came at a Terrible Cost
We had a debt that we could not pay, so He
paid the debt that He did not owe.
“Therefore
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold,
new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to
Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."
"Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us;
we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no
sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God
in Him.” (
II Corinthians 5:17-21)
He Understands the Heartache of Being a Father
Remember
this, the best of fathering cannot always guarantee
the best of outcomes. The law of sowing and reaping does provide a
principle here, for in reality, good fathering generally produces
children who
respect authority, respond to parental counsel, and ultimately have been
led to
embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. However, that is simply
not
always the case.
God
the Father was and is a perfect parent, who provided a
sinless innocent nature in Adam and Eve, and a perfect home with ample
privileges and previsions, and they chose to rebel against Him and
sin.
That choice, created a cancerous
supernatural spiritual cell, laced with a toxic defective spiritual DNA, which ultimately has destined every one of us to physical and eternal
death. He understands how hard it is to be a loving father, and yet have His children rebel
and sin.
Remember that your Heavenly Father
is there for you and He is as close as a prayer away in The Quiet Place. Seek
him today, and worship Him as you discover the Father Heart of God for
yourself.
Living with regrets as a father is one of life’s heavier burdens. It is
tough knowing that you have let down your children or have failed them in some
way, weighs heavy on the heart of a father. No father on this earth is perfect,
and we all have some regrets that we may have fallen short in being the father
that our children most needed. 
“The Spirit
of the Lord God (Translated YHWH) is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to
proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.” Isaiah
61:1
"So
they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He
may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3
