A Tribute to Fathers

Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master. Ephesians 6:4 (The Message, MSG)

Much of the time, we focus on the first part of this verse, but today as we celebrate fathers, let’s take a look primarily at the second part. Our fathers are teachers. They teach us by training and explaining things, but more than anything, they train us by example. Often we grow up to be much more like our parents than we ever imagined in our youth.

We can learn much from our fathers. My own father was a hard-working man. I got a lot of my personality and temperment from him. I value hard work, but I enjoy a good sense of humor. And I treasure the solid values I got from him. God assigned him to be my father for a reason, and I choose to see the good points in what he did to raise me.

Of course my dad has had his flaws, but if I spend all my time looking at the ways he came up short in working with my mom to raise me and my brother, I would be missing the point. God wants me to see my father as someone to honor, because he is symbolic of my heavenly Father. My dad is a good man, and while he was not saved when we were growing up, he did the best he could. And he is now serving the Lord, and I can joyfully call him my brother in Christ. I consider my dad (and my mom) as a best friend. Other than spending time with my husband, my parents are probably my favorite people to be around.

Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12 (New Living Translation, NLT)

I know that some people did not have a positive upbringing, and that some people experienced abuse or abandoment from their fathers. What I would tell someone who was mistreated by their father is to forgive them. While we may not feel like they deserve it, it helps us to heal when we forgive and choose not to hold onto bitterness and resentment. And it also helps us when we decide to honor our parents like the commandment says we should. When we honor our father and mother, the Bible promises us long life. When we honor them, we are honoring their place as being responsible for bringing us into the world. We are not saying they did things right, but we are valuing the fact that they made it possible for us to be alive and on this earth to serve God. We don’t have to be around a parent who is abusive, but we can honor them by praying for them and speaking the Word of God over their lives.

Today, let’s be grateful to God for fathers. We can learn valuable lessons from them- what to do and what not to do. God gave us our fathers, and we honor and pay tribute to them today. And when we do, we honor and pay tribute to our heavenly Father.