What Does A Godly Father Look Like?

June 6th 2001

What Does a Godly Father Look Like?

Dad was sick in bed with the flu and he watched his darling little girl, as she wanted to nurse him back to good health. She fluffed his pillow, she brought him his book to read, and she even brought him a surprise cup of tea. Dad said as he drank the tea "Sweetie I did not know you knew how to make tea?"

"Oh yes" the little girl replied " I learned by watching you. I put the tealeaves in the pan, like you do, then I put the water in like you do, and I boiled it and then dad I strained it into your favorite mug. The only thing is I could not find a strainer so I used the fly swatter." "You what?" dad screamed. "Oh dad don’t worry" she said " I didn’t use the new fly swatter, I used the old one."

Andy Mason Signal article Vol. 29 Issue 9 May 9 2001.

What does a Godly Father look like?

1. He is present and involved.

One young man told me his father was so detached from his life that the best advice he ever gave him was when he told him "son listen to your mother."

And as is more typical today than not, poor mom is the one who has to be breadwinner, taxi, chief cook and bottle washer, dad, banker and disciplinarian all wrapped into one and mother and children suffer because dads are not present and involved in the lives of their families.

Think about Jesus:

In all likelihood it was Joseph with the strong callused hands of a carpenter that gently caught that newborn baby and wrapped him in swaddling and placed him in that manger.

Even before his mother held him it was from Joseph that Jesus felt the presence, protection and care of his earthly father.

What other impact did Joseph have on this child’s life?

Joseph understood like all of us should that our children are a gift from God, they belong to God and we are placed above them as stewards, as asset managers and the whole time we are blessed by the responsibility God has given us, as we prove ourselves faithful!

Some of my preacher friends have dads who were or still are preachers today.

Do you think they were affected most by their dad’s flawless techniques for constructing life-changing sermons? Or were they most impressed by their dad’s who had a strategy for growing large churches? Maybe one would think they were most grateful for their dad’s ministry accomplishments and the public recognition of their father’s.

(excerpted from Focus on the family website Family.org " A Father’s Influence."

Answer:

No to all!

These preacher friends are most influenced by the way their dad’s lived their lives. They each share that they were most thankful for the examples their father’s gave them. The passion they have for Christ, the compassion they showed for lost people, broken people and hurting families.

The greatest influence a dad can have on his children is simply WHO HE IS! As a matter of fact that is the greatest influence we have on all people.

Oh! I can deliver a great sermon on Sunday morning about Saint Peter at the gate, the linen robe or the golden calf. But my value as a dad, as a husband, as a minister, as a person comes from the sharing of my presence, from the time spent with my kids and the values and priorities by which I live.

The Godly Father lives his commitment to God.

It was not that Joseph taught Jesus how to be an excellent carpenter or that we teach or daughters how to cook or our sons how to play shortstop. Although these things have their purpose.

But what matters is that we have shown them by example how to love and respect others. Have we shown our sons how to treat women as mothers or sisters with dignity? Have we modeled to our daughters and sons what a godly husband looks like? Have we taught them how to face insults, persecution and offense by blessing those who persecute us, loving them serving them and praying for them?

Have we shown our children how to give and share by our own giving and sharing sacrificially? Have we shown our children how to pray? How to read and revere scripture? How to apply the word of God to their lives as we apply it to ours? Have we lived love, shown love to all? Do we obey God?

The godly Father’s child will never say, " I never knew my dad?"

A Father’s Influence by Dan Davidson taken from Focus on the Family.org June 4 2001.

I received a letter from a single mother who had raised a son who was about to become a dad. Since he had no recollection of his own father, her question to me was "What do I tell him a father does?"