Bible Ballistics: Vol. 15 No. 16    A Father’s Way!!!

 

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there, and I want to share some thoughts on the import of fatherhood.  One of the major issues in our culture today is the lack of father’s involvement in the home and in the lives of their children.  I just want to share what I believe to be one of the most important passages on the family for your consideration today.  I pray that we will consider God’s truth, and as Paul said, “stand fast in the evil day”!

“Now these are the commandments,

the statutes,

and the judgments,

which the LORD your God commanded

to teach you,

that ye might do them

in the land whither ye go to possess it:

2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God,

to keep all his statutes

and his commandments,

which I command thee,

thou,

and thy son,

and thy son’s son,

all the days of thy life;

and that thy days may be prolonged.

3 Hear therefore, O Israel,

and observe to do it;

that it may be well with thee,

and that ye may increase mightily,

as the LORD God of thy fathers

hath promised thee,

in the land that floweth

with milk and honey.

4 Hear, O Israel:

The LORD our God

is one LORD:

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God

with all thine heart,

and with all thy soul,

and with all thy might.

6 And these words,

which I command thee this day,

shall be in thine heart:”  Deuteronomy 6:1-6

God’s call to His own was that they would heed His Word, and depend upon HIS provision and care, and know Him personally.  It is the basis of everything that makes a true godly home!  We must choose to love and follow God for our own selves first, before we can affect anyone around us—especially our children; and without the example as well as the talk we can’t truly lead anyone else to The Lord Jesus!  We can only share what we possess!

“What?

know ye not that your body

is the temple

of the Holy Ghost

which is in you,

which ye have of God,

and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price:

therefore glorify God

in your body,

and in your spirit,

which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Now, let’s look at what Deuteronomy lays out for us as parents—especially fathers—and ponder God’s design, and pursue HIS principles!  May God work a work that only HE can do in our hearts, our lives, our families, and our nation!  Speaking of the statutes of the Lord, Moses told us how to pass the torch of faith and truth to our children and those over whom God gives us influence (whether they are our own offspring or not!)!

“And thou shalt teach them diligently

unto thy children,

and shalt talk of them

when thou sittest in thine house,

and when thou walkest by the way,

and when thou liest down,

and when thou risest up.

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign

upon thine hand,

and they shall be as frontlets

between thine eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them

upon the posts of thy house,

and on thy gates.

10 And it shall be,

when the LORD thy God

shall have brought thee into the land

which he sware unto thy fathers,

to Abraham,

to Isaac,

and to Jacob,

to give thee great and goodly cities,

which thou buildedst not,

11 And houses full of all good things,

which thou filledst not,

and wells digged,

which thou diggedst not,

vineyards and olive trees,

which thou plantedst not;

when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD,

which brought thee forth

out of the land of Egypt,

from the house of bondage.

13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God,

and serve him,

and shalt swear by his name……

…17 Ye shall diligently keep

the commandments of the LORD your God,

and his testimonies,

and his statutes,

which he hath commanded thee.

18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good

in the sight of the LORD:

that it may be well with thee,

and that thou mayest go in

and possess the good land

which the LORD sware

unto thy fathers,

19 To cast out all thine enemies

from before thee,

as the LORD hath spoken.

(***)20 And when thy son asketh thee

in time to come, saying,

What mean the testimonies,

and the statutes,

and the judgments,

which the LORD our God

hath commanded you?

(***)21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son,

We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt;

and the LORD brought us out of Egypt

with a mighty hand:

22 And the LORD shewed signs and wonders,

great and sore,

upon Egypt,

upon Pharaoh,

and upon all his household,

before our eyes:

23 And he brought us out from thence,

that he might bring us in,

to give us the land

which he sware unto our fathers.

24 And the LORD commanded us

to do all these statutes,

to fear the LORD our God,

for our good always,

that he might preserve us alive,

as it is at this day.

25 And it shall be our righteousness,

 if we observe to do all

these commandments

before the LORD our God,

as he hath commanded us.”  Deuteronomy 6:7-25

If I might put it in a nutshell:  if we will follow Jesus with our whole heart, and do that which pleases Him in all our ways, before our family and the world, the time will come in the lives of our children (and those He places in our circle of influence!), that they will ask “why” we do what we do.  Note, God didn’t say that they would ask “why” we “say” what we say, but that they would ask “why” we “do” what we “do” in following Jesus!  Do your children have anything to ask about?  Or is there so little difference between us and the world, that they have nothing to ask about.

May God bless you to see what HE is showing you/me today.  Blessings on you and yours.

Amen and Amen!!!