Faith Of Our Father(S)

Now I know that their dads were happy for them and proud of them, but they just never showed these kids and so these kids would try and try, but would get so discouraged and become disinterested when they weren’t praised for their successes.

And I’m not just saying this. I think the life and ministry of Jesus demonstrates the need for approval from his Father. You know, we read about the birth of Jesus in the gospels and then we read very little about Jesus doing anything between birth and thirty years of age, but when Jesus does sort of resurface, he does so dramatically.

In Luke 3:21ff, we read of Jesus’ baptism by John and in v. 22, we begin to read that Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove, and a voice, presumably God’s, came down from Heaven saying, "You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased."

How awesome! This is how Jesus begins his ministry, by encouragement, love, and the pride from his Father. God knew what the Son needed to hear. I wish my baseball coaches knew the same thing. For that matter, I wish all children could hear those words from their fathers.

I consider myself to be immensely blessed because my parents were never short on their compliments of me. I was always encourage; I was always lifted up and I always knew they were proud of me. I may not have realized it at the time, but looking back, I see it. I see how much it affected me. I see how confident I am in myself as a result of it all.

You could almost argue that they took it to the other extreme and maybe gave me a false sense of achievement, I don’t know. I appreciate and love them for it. As my Dad is here this weekend, that is one of the things that I look back on with appreciation and gratitude.

So, its important for a Father to build up his children, to give them confidence, to make them believe in themselves, but as I have said before, it is not intended to be a false sense of confidence in themselves, rather, the earthly father’s duties involve raising up their kids and teaching them the ways of the Lord. They are to show their children how to be confident through their faith in God.

That is what Paul is saying in Ephesians 6:4 when he tells fathers to bring their children up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

That is also the essence of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, when he tells them that he and the other apostles tried to deal with them the way a father deals with his children, by encouraging them, by comforting them, and by urging them to live Godly lives.

You see, today should not just be a day that we honor our earthly fathers. This is a day that we honor our heavenly Father, not only today, but everyday, we are to honor Him with our lives, our service, and our devotion.

We truly are His children and what a glorious thing to be, Amen? We are told that God is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and guess what…we are his children.

The Bible tells us that we are heirs to the throne. Listen to what Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians 4:6-7, "Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts , the Spirit who calls out, ’Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer slaves, but God’s children; and since you are his children, he has made you also heirs."