![]() “Provoke” here is meant as “avoiding unfair and cruel behavior” or “blatant favoritism.” When I first found this verse and started thinking about how I could apply it to my life, I thought I just had to keep from making my children angry. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” ~ Ephesians 6:4 I pray for discernment every day for my children and their calling as they continue to move forward. This is just one of the ways I try to live this verse. In fact, my daughter and I spend nights on our couch watching games on TV and talking about what each team is doing. I’ve spent hours in our driveway playing basketball with my son and with my daughter. In my world as a father, my children and I spent most of our time in sports learning how to work with others and how to strive to be their best. My job as a shepherd is to encourage my children to try different things so that they can find what it is that they enjoy and what fits within the plan that our Lord has for them as they grow. For me, this is something I have influence on but I am not in control of the outcome. It is my job to dedicate my time to finding the path for my children-to help them find the purpose God has for their lives. As a father, I am like a shepherd who is dedicating my children to the path that our Heavenly Father has designed for them to follow. Train up or dedicate your child in the way they should go. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” ~ Proverbs 22:6 Here are a few of the things that I learned along the way. This started me on my quest to read through the Bible looking for instructions on how to be a great father. His response… “I gave you an instruction book but you don’t read it.” As it turns out, there aren’t many self-help books on how to be a first time father, so I asked my Father in Heaven for his guidance. ![]() I want to leave my legacy on earth through them.Īs an avid reader, I looked for a self-help book that could guide me. I wanted my children to be able to come to me without reservation when they needed advice or help with a problem. I only knew that I wanted to be a father that was there for his children and always made it to the events in their lives. ![]() ![]() Growing up in a home without a dad from the third grade on, I didn’t have an example of what a good father looked like. I didn’t know what to expect and was concerned that I wouldn’t be a good father. When my wife, Jennifer, got pregnant with our first of two children more than 17 years ago, I was your typical scared-to-death father who didn’t feel prepared to be a dad. ![]()
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