Model Yourself After Our Heavenly Father
ICS Daily Devotions
1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV) Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
The best gift a father can give to his children is a strong marriage with his wife. It is the father’s responsibility to create a safe environment in the home. The home should be a haven for the family. This is so vital for the children that we must guard it jealously for their sake. Because we live in a vicious world, the father should ensure that this haven is always available to the children, even when they are married—a place where they are loved, accepted, and valued.
The scene that provides young children with the greatest psychological and emotional stability is witnessing their parents hugging and loving each other. They feel safe and experience peace in their minds and hearts. Once this haven is shaken or destroyed, the children will be thrown into a state of unrest, affecting them psychologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and to some extent physically.
Matthew 6:9 (NKJV) In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
It is challenging to effectively, openly, and intimately relate to the Heavenly Father unless we have a close relationship with our earthly fathers. Jesus taught us to pray to the Heavenly Father in His name, so as fathers, if we want to model our fatherhood after Him, we need to have a clear understanding of God, the Heavenly Father.
God is a judge, but if we only see God as a judge, it would be hard to grow up in the courtroom under the watchful eye of a judge. Some believers even think that God uses sicknesses, accidents, pain, and suffering to discipline us because we have failed Him due to our imperfection and sin. Instead, we must take responsibility because many of us are only attentive to God when we come to the end of ourselves, becoming receptive to God’s ways, correction, instructions, and rebuke when we are helpless during a crisis.
If we believe that God uses all these to discipline us, we risk becoming abusive fathers, pushing our children away from us and risking committing the offence of child abuse. The truth is, God uses His word to correct, train, rebuke, and lead us in righteousness. We often hear God more clearly through life’s unpleasant events.
God has made the throne of grace accessible to us, where we find help and mercy in times of need from the Heavenly Father. God wants us to address Him as our Father in heaven. The ability to address God as our Heavenly Father is a great blessing because it will draw us closer to Him. God the Father always wants us to approach Him to find rest, help, mercy, grace, strength, and the removal of our burdens. He is a loving and caring Heavenly Father!
Likewise, we should always make ourselves available to the children. It is a way to show them through our actions that they matter more to us than anything else, and we are a loving and approachable father.
Sermon Series: Dads for Life
