Proverbs 3:1 reads, “My son…let your heart keep my commands.”
If you’re a dad, God expects you to be the leader in your family. That means:
1) You must want to lead.
Without good leadership, the chances are your kids are headed for a life of trouble. Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr said, “If you look at the one factor that most closely correlates with crime, it’s not poverty, it’s not unemployment, it’s not education; it’s the absence of a father in the family.”
2) You must know where you’re going.
Without clear direction for your own life, you can’t guide your kids. God expects you to enable your children to make wise decisions in such crucial areas of life as sex, money, relationships, marriage, and the vocations they choose. These are make-or-break issues. It’s your job to teach them both in precept and practice what those crucial life issues are, and to help them make godly decisions in each one.
3) You must “be there” for them.
Let’s use this acrostic on the word DADS: Direction. Availability. Discipline. Spirituality. The most crucial component on the list is “availability.” Why? Because if you’re not available you can’t give direction, your discipline will be resented, and your spiritual leadership will be rejected.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and if you don’t lead your children, someone will lead them for you. If you’re not there for them someone else will be – someone you may not like. And when that happens, the greater problem isn’t that you won’t be around; it’s that you’ll no longer be missed! In the Bible, God is called “Our Father.” So today ask Him to help you become the father your children need.
© 2017 CE