4 years: My daddy can do anything.
7 years: My dad knows a lot, a whole lot.
8 years: My father doesn't quite know everything.
12 years: Oh well, naturally Father doesn't know
everything.
14 years: Father? Hopelessly
old-fashioned.
21 years: Oh, that man is out-of-date. What did you
expect?
25 years: He knows a little bit about it but not
much.
30 years: Must find out what Dad thinks about it.
40 years: What would Dad have thought about it?
50 years: My Dad knew literally everything.
60 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once
more. 1
A child wanted to
describe Father’s Day. “Father’s Day is
like Mother’s Day,” he said, “but we spend more money on Mother’s Day.”
Although we laugh at such
jokes coming from our children, but we should weep for the statistics that show
that families are torn apart. Today the
role of father at home is so important we can not ignore it. The pressure of the world on fathers is
enormous. Being a father or mother in
these days is so difficult. On one side
of the scale, fathers work so hard to provide for the family, on the other side
the fathers need to be the leaders of the home, especially the spiritual
leaders. Unfortunately, we do not have
time. Psychologists say that children
look up to their fathers as role models.
They also imagine God through their father’s image.
Emma Bombeck describes
fathers in a story:
When the good Lord was
creating fathers, He started with a tall frame.
And a female angel nearby said, "What kind of
father is that? If you’re going
to make children so close to the ground, why have you put fathers up so
high? He won’t be able to shoot marbles
without kneeling, tuck a child in bed without bending, or even kiss a child
without a lot of stooping."
And God smiled and said,
"Yes, but if I make him child size, who would children have to look up
to?"2
Jesus had a wonderful
relationship with his heavenly God the father. “The Father loves the Son…” (John 3:35),
“All things have been committed to me by my Father…” (Mathew 11:27), “Our
Father, in heaven...” (Matt. 6:9) “Father, just as you are in me and I in you…”
(John 17:21) “Father, into your hands I
commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). There
was a special relationship between God the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
We as fathers have a big
responsibility. Let me quote from Rev.
Bert Blair: “The American father is the
world’s most competent breadwinner. He
makes himself a constant candidate for a coronary by the sheer, desperate
scramble to provide his family with greater material benefits. He gives his children everything they
need—everything that is except what they need most-a father.” 3
Our children look up to
us. They imitate how we walk, how we talk, they learn the topics of our
discussion.
A little girl followed
her father in newly plated clumps. She
stepped exactly where he stepped. She
said, "Daddy, if you don't get mud on your feet, I won't get any mud on
me!"4
How important it is for
fathers to walk in the ways of the Lord!
How important for us as fathers to plugged into God! Therefore, I like to concentrate on God as a
role model for all of us fathers: God as
a Father who loves us.
We will continue in the
English message.
1 Illustration from eSermons Illustration
2 Bombeck, Emma, “When
the Lord was creating Fathers.”
3 Blair, Bert: “Father’s Day”
4 Illustration from eSermons Illustration