Jesus came to restore us to a right relationship with Abba Father, for which obedience to his Father in heaven he received eternal reward.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, Philippians 2:8–9 (NASB95)
Jesus’ mission was to save and restore us in order to bring his Father glory and honor. By turning our hearts back toward Abba Father, he made it possible for earthly Dads and their children to be in right relationship, too.
Proper relationships between fathers and sons and fathers and daughters is a means to experience tremendous blessings from God. An absent or broken father – child connection opens the door to many negative consequences.
“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6 (NLT)
Much of the trouble we see in our nation and around the world goes back to a break of the relationship between fathers and their children, which ultimately goes back to the absence of a relationship between us and Abba. When we men get our relationship with Abba right, restored relationships with our children can more easily follow.
Fathers who have been reconciled to Abba can help their own children grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4 (ESV)
A father’s joy is seeing his children do well.
Children who dishonor parents because of a broken father-child relationship will not do well in life. It is paramount for us dads to work diligently to repair our relationship with our children, for our sake and theirs, not mention, God’s.
Solomon said that a wise son makes a glad father. (Proverbs 10:1) Conversely, having a foolish son or daughter is a heavy load for any parent to bear. Ultimately, our children must make their own way in life: we cannot pass that test for them. A parent’s role is to give them the love, affirmation, blessings, and other tools they will need to succeed, but all of us must make their own choices.
Perfect parenting does not guarantee perfect results. Neither does poor parenting guarantee that children will fail.
When dads miss the mark, our heavenly Abba can supply what is missing to our children. When dads hurt their children, Abba can bring healing. When parents did their best, but children nevertheless go down a wrong path, Abba can comfort the parents and correct the children. Where we parents realize we failed, there is forgiveness and hope for the future. We do our best, hopefully, but all of us make plenty of mistakes as a parent and as a child.
For those of us who do not have our own natural children, there are lots of opportunities to be a “father” to those who are natural or spiritual orphans.
Adoption is one of the important themes of the Bible. Moses was adopted. So was Jesus. Every born again follower of Christ is God’s child through adoption. For those of us whose children are now grown, we can now invest in however many others God brings our way, who need a fatherly touch.
One day we will receive the reward for our labors, but even now we can rejoice as we watch our proteges learn to successfully navigate life using the skills and blessings we passed on to them.
A father’s reward comes from pouring out his life into his children and watching them succeed and go farther than he ever did.
The blessing continues as we watch our children pass the blessing forward to their own offspring. And when we ultimately stand before God’s throne at the judgment, we will hear him say, “Well done!” Hallelujah!
After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! 20 Yes, you are our pride and joy. 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 (NLT)
