Fathers Day 2011
Psalm 127
This year Father’s Day holds a new significance for me as I see my son Joshua about to become a father.
Life has come full circle and God in His wisdom has designed our human experience so that all of us can indeed experience the circle of life.
This undeniable constant is a part of our collective conscious and unconscious minds. We are living out a pattern of design and in that design there is the wisdom of eternity and the hand of the Creator.
Our Heavenly Father created life using only His word saying “Let there be” and all things came into existence.
But when it came to human life Our Heavenly Father took a hands on approach and got His hands dirty by forming us from out of the earth.
Then our Heavenly Father did something unprecedented in all of creation. He took His own breathe and put it into us.
Genesis 2:7 KJV
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
By doing so it was not merely God’s words that brought us to life but the very breath of God that came into us and made us into creatures that would know eternal life since the breath of the eternal God had been passed into us.
We became children of our God and have ever since retained that title though some of us refuse to acknowledge our parentage to this day.
John 1:12
12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
God in His love reached out to us with the most valuable and precious thing He has – His Son Jesus Christ. – Who is the breath of God if you will.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In doing so God demonstrates to all Fathers that most precious thing a father possesses – his children.
Mark 8:36-37
36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
But we Fathers so often forfeit that which is most precious for that which is simply transient and fleeting – as we chase after the things of the world instead of chasing after our children at play.
“Family values” is an over used and much debated phrase in today’s culture. In our age of relativism each family is vehemently encouraged to define for themselves just what “Family Values” means.
The world or more rightly our enemy the Devil is very cunning and deceitful and does what is called twisting as he takes that phrase and pollutes it with his lies.
No the source of our “Family values” fathers should be and must be and shall forever be the Bible - God’s inspired infallible word of instruction to us all. But the enemy has sought to divide and conquer.
Today we have divided families, children separated from their mothers, separated from their fathers and separated from their grand parents because we have sold our souls in order to chase after the world and its sparkling allure rather than chase after the sparkling love that is reflected in our children’s eyes.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 NIV
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Fathers we have been tricked even deceived into employing the wrong part of our anatomy towards achieving the things we thought would bring joy and peace and an inheritance to our children. Father’s we have been using our hands far too much when in fact we should be using our hearts to bring the blessings of God to our children.
Fathers we are victims in some sense of the world for having bought into the lies of our generation and culture and our enemy the Devil. We have believed that it is the getting of things, houses, lands, titles and money that we ultimately give to our children those things that are best and most valuable for them as an inheritance in this world. We Fathers expire under tremendous toil and effort to pass on the things of this world that in the end can not bring the lasting peace of mind and tender love of the heart – No - only knowing God can give those priceless treasures to our children.
Jeremiah 24:7 NIV
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
Fathers if you’re like me then you too have sometimes failed as a leader to your children and family but the good news is that it’s not too late for you or me to be redeemed in their eyes.
All we have to do is lead our children back to God, back to our Saviour Jesus Christ. It’s not too late; it’s never too late to come back to God. All it takes is that first step in a new direction.
Acts 2:39 NIV
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Fathers plant your feet firmly and then bend your knees and with me approach the Throne of Grace today as together we ask our Heavenly Father to forgive us for loosing sight of that which is the best thing we can give our children – faith in Jesus Christ.
2 Chronicles
7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Closing prayer:
