[282 words]
A small boy was playing with his buddies in the back yard. The father overheard them talking. The conversation was, amusingly, one of those “My Dad can whip your Dad” routines. One boy proudly says, “My Dad knows the mayor of our town.” Another said, “That’s nothing, my Dad knows the governor of our state!”
Wondering what was coming next in the program of bragging, the father heard his son say, “That’s nothing! My Dad knows God!” The Dad swiftly slipped away from the place of eavesdropping and prayed, “Oh God, I pray that my boy will always be able to say, “My Dad knows God.”
Fathers are to teach God’s will. “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut 6:7).
Fathers are to train in God’s ways. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).
Fathers are to provide for their children. “…for I do not seek yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children” (2 Cor. 12:14).
Fathers are to nurture their children. “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
Fathers are to control their children. “One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence” (1 Tim. 3:4).
Fathers are to love their children. “…he who loves him disciplines him promptly” (Prov. 13:24).
via North Charleston Church of Christ
Charleston, SC