Fathers: Bless Your Family

Fathers: Bless Your Family

Matthew 3:16-17

Our attitudes toward our father tend to change over the years.

My Father When I Was ….

4 years old: My daddy can do anything.

5 years old: My daddy knows a whole lot.

6 years old: My dad is smarter than your dad.

8 years old: My dad doesn’t exactly know everything.

10 years old: In the olden days when my dad grew up, things

were sure different.

12 years old: Oh, well—father doesn’t know anything about

that. He is too old to remember his childhood.

14 years old: Don’t pay attention to my father. He is so old-

fashioned!

21 years old: Him? Forget it. He is hopelessly out-of-date.

25 years old: Dad knows a little bit about it, but then he should

because he has been around so long.

31 years old: Maybe we should ask dad what he thinks. After

all, he’s had a lot of experience.

35 years old: I’m not doing a single thing until I talk to dad.

40 years old: I wonder how dad would handle it. He is so wise

and has a world of experience.

50 years old: I’d given anything if dad were here so I could talk

this over with him. Too bad I didn’t appreciate how

smart he was. I could have learned a lot form him.

What day of the year are the most calls made? On Mother’s Day. On Father’s Day there are the most collect calls.

When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, God gave His blessing to the life and ministry of His Son, Jesus. “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.”

In Old Testament times the blessing of the father on his son was extremely important.

Before his death Abraham blessed his son Isaac and gave him everything he owned. Genesis 25:13 – “After Abraham’s death, God poured out rich blessings on Isaac….”

Genesis 27 Jacob with his mother’s help deceived Isaac into giving him the blessing due Esau the first born. Isaac pronounced his blessing on Jacob (Genesis 27:23).

Jacob knew the value of being blessed by God and before he faced his brother Esau after many years of separation Jacob prayed all night with an angel of the Lord. Jacob hung on in prayer and said to the angel: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Gen. 32:26) The angel blessed Jacob and gave him a new name, “Israel.”

The scriptures teach that a father’s blessing makes a great difference on the life of a son or daughter getting his blessing.

# Gordon Dalbey, author of “Healing of the Masculine Soul,” tells of a Catholic Nun working in a prison. She was asked by a prisoner to get him a Mother’s Day card for his mother. She did, and the word traveled like wildfire around the prison. Deluged with requests, she called Hallmark, and the company donated huge boxes of Mother’s Day cards. The warden arranged for each inmate to draw a number, and they stood in line to get a card.

Weeks later the nun looked at the calendar and decided to call Hallmark again and ask for Father’s Day cards in order to avoid another rush. The warden announced that free cards were available. To the surprise of the Warden and Nun, not a single prisoner ever asked her for a Father’s Day card. Why? Because, the majority of the men in prison didn’t have a healthy relationship with their father.

Just as God pronounced His blessing on His Son Jesus, “this is my son in whom I am well pleased,” so Fathers need to bless their children.

Fathers just as God has blessed you; you also are to bless your children.

I Bless Your Children for who they are and not what they do.

God the Father gave His blessing on His Son at the beginning of His public ministry and not at the end. God blessed Jesus for who he was and not for what he had done.

Think of it, God blesses you for who you are. You are created in the image of God. When you accept and honor Jesus in your life you become a child of God. God’s blessing is on you as His child. You can say: “I am your son, whom You love; with me You are well pleased.” God is well pleased with you for you who are, not for anything you have done.

Ephesians 6:4 encourages fathers to provide a well-balanced and positive atmosphere for children in the home. “And now a word to you fathers. Don’t make your children angry by the way you treat them. Rather bring them up with the discipline and instruction approved by the Lord.” (NLT) The NIV translates verse 4 this way, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” To “exasperate” is to “annoy, provoke, trouble, or aggravate.”