Fathering And Loving Leadership

Genesis 12:1-3 (NLT)

Then the Lord told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. [2] I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. [3] I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."

I thank the Lord for all of you especially Richard and Kenny’s participation. You have been my inspiration for doing this small group. As each of us has shared in our group regarding some of our needs, I would like to take the time to address the issue concerning fatherhood. Because I am an aspiring father myself, I have asked God to give me His wisdom and incite as to how I can be a good father.

In Genesis 12, we see that God made Abraham into a father with many blessings. He was a great man of faith. I believe he provided for his descendants something that is priceless and that is his faith in God. He also became the father of many nations (Gen. 17:5). I would also like to share a few things in addition to that that may be helpful to you as well.

Do you love the people you lead in your family?

Here is what I believe to be the basic role and responsibility of a good father:

1. Provider

2. Protector

3. Pace setter

As a loving leader in our homes, we are to provide certain things that God holds each of us fathers accountable. That basic thing I believe we are to provide for our family is loving leadership. By this I mean that I have their best interests in mind. We are to guide, direct, model, teach and lead our family in a healthy way where certain basic needs and development for the family are met. These can be broken into five basic areas that include physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual needs of the human makeup and its development into maturity. With God’s help, we make every provision possible for opportunities that will help our family with these needs and to develop and grow them to their full potential in all these areas so that they can be all that God has called them to be both in this life and in preparation of the life to come. We as fathers are responsible for this.

As a loving leader in our homes, we are to protect our family and make secure all that God gives to us and our family for this provision in the five areas mentioned. It means standing up to anything that may endanger or attack the stability in our family in these five areas of need and development. Endangerment and attacks may come from our society, culture, humanistic worldviews, sin, our own self, etc. It also means we must be willing to fight to ensure that these are safeguarded in such a way that progress to maturity for each family member in all areas is the result. And that means we also must be pursuing this ourselves.

As a loving leader in our homes, we are to set the pace and the direction for the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual development of our family. It means we are to know the time and seasons of change in our environment and move our families in accordance with it. We are the time keeper for each of our children at each stage of their life development. It means we are to let them know the proper time for taking the next step and the consequences for not doing so. It means accepting the responsibility for their discipline when they are children. We are to set the proper limits and priorities in a balanced way in these five areas as provider, protector and pace setter.

So often we as fathers fall short because we only mind the most obvious ones such as physical provision, spiritual protection, etc. But to be the head that Christ has called us to for our family, we are to mind all 3 x 5 = 15 areas. If we are not balanced in the 15 areas or leave out some of these areas altogether, we are not fulfilling our total role and responsibility as the father and leader God has entrusted to us. We are to provide for the five areas of need, protect the five areas of development and growth, and set the direction and pace in the five areas for each individual member of our family. That is what I mean by being the responsible father that God calls us to be.