Three Things I Learned From My Dad

Three Things I Learned From My Father

Because today is Father’s day, it is good that we should honor them. In thinking back about my Dad, I remembered three things that he told me as a new Dad to take care of.

1. The first thing I learned was “Take Care of your Children.”

A. Train your children: (Proverbs 22:6) “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

(Ephesians 6:1-2) “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother.

B. Discipline: (Ephesians 6:4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

(Col 3:6) “For the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

C. Teach them about God: (Ecclesiastes 12:1) “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”

D. Reward: (Matthew 7:11) “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

We knew when we did right and we knew when we did wrong.

2. The second thing I learned from my Father was “Take Care of your wife.” (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 29, 31, 33)

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

“So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.”

“Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself.

How many times do we tell our wives how valuable they are or do we wait to discover that fact in the funeral home?

How many times do we pitch in to help without being asked?

Do we love our wives or do we take them for granted?

William Ross Wallace, 1860, wrote a poem that explains how we should care for our wives. “The hand That Rocks The Cradle, Rules The World” Our wives rock the cradle, stir the soup and Ten million other things we overlook daily.

By loving our wives we are loving our children, because our wives care for our children. Children need to know that their mother is loved and cared for.

If we are loving our wives we are being the kind of fathers God expects us to be. (Our SONS will love, honor and cherish their wives if we love, honor and cherish their Mom.)

Giving respect to our wives makes us better Fathers. We lead best by example and taking care of our wives is our #2 mission.

But our third and MOST important thing to take care of is our relationship with God.

3. Take Care of your God:

How can we be the fathers that God expects us to be unless we have the right relationship with God?

Dad taught us to Fear and Obey God. (Ecclesiastes 12:13) “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” AND (John 14:15) “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Dad taught us that a right relationship was a Holy relationship with God.

(Leviticus 20:7) “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.”

(1 Peter 1:15) “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;” (Watch your mouth!)

(1 Peter 1:16” “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

Dad taught us to keep our priorities straight in relation to God. PUT HIM FIRST!

(Matthew 6:33) “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” When we put GOD FIRST, everything else will fall in place and the BLESSINGS will multiply.

(Ephesians 1:3) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” The house, the car, the job, the family all fall in place if we as fathers seek God first.

Dad studied the Bible constantly and had me study it too. Dad would pray while driving down the road, a stack of U.S. Mail in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. And Dad would sing hymns from memory in the car.