The Importance Of Fathers

Dad’s, how are you doing with your words? Are you fighting?

2. With our time.

Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, once said that he chose to fail so he could succeed. He said, "I chose to fail at golf, because I wanted to succeed as a father." Though he loved golf immensely, he knew that he could never devote adequate time to his job, his hobby, and his family . . . so he gave up his hobby.

How are you doing with your time? We looked at Deuteronomy 6, but let’s look again at verses 7 and following: Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Dad’s, do you want to know what is important in your life today? Look at your daytimer, your palm pilot, your schedule, and where your time is devoted to, that’s what is important. Unfortunately, many dads say that by their time they love their jobs. They love their hobbies. They love their entertainment, their comfort. If you asked them if they loved their children, they would swear to you that they do. But their time doesn’t match up.

And some of you have bought into the thinking of this world. I’ve got to keep working and working and working so I can provide for them the finer things of this world, and providing for family is important and biblical,

8If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

but I think that we sometimes go beyond what is necessary.

There’s a story told of a man asking his daughter if she would want quality time with her dad or quantity time with her dad. She replied, “Quality time, Dad, and lots of it!”

I read about a little girl who drew a pretty picture. She went in her dad’s

office. Crawled on his lap. And said, "Daddy, come and see my picture."

And the dad said, "Not now, honey. Dad’s busy."

About 10 minutes later, she came back again. Crawled on his lap. And said,

"Daddy, will you come see my picture now?"

And the dad got frustrated. And said, "Can’t you see I’m busy? Don’t bother

me right now. I’ll come and look at your picture later. When I’m ready."

A couple of hours later, the dad came out. And he said to the daughter, "Can

I see the picture now?" And the girl said, "Sure." And it was a picture of

her and her brother and her mom standing on the lawn. With the family dog.

With big smiles. On a sunny day. But the dad noticed that he wasn’t in the

picture. And so the dad said, "That’s a nice picture, sweetheart. But how

come I’m not in the picture?"

And the girl said, "Because you’re working in your office, daddy."

Time is a gift you give that you can never get back. You can give money, and always make more. You can give gifts, because you can always get new things anyway. But once time is given, it never comes back. Time reveals the priorities in your life. And if you want to win the war with for your children, you’ve got to invest time.