“Our Fathers Who Are on Earth”
by Tom Goodman
June 15, 2005

In our culture, Father’s Day is hardly as special as Mother’s Day.  Sometimes even on church calendars, Father’s Day is no better than an afterthought.

Of course, there’s no scriptural mandate to celebrate Father’s Day.  Still, we are called to celebrate fathers.  Churches that fail to honor fathers—and to make honorable fathers—contribute to society’s decay.

That’s what Roland Warren said in a recent article called, “Our Fathers Who Are on Earth.”  He is the president of the National Fatherhood Initiative (www.fatherhood.org), an organization that works to increase the number of children who grow up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers.

In the article, he recalled an experience his wife shared with him.  She was having lunch with a non-Christian friend a few years ago.  She asked her friend if she minded prayer before the meal.  Her friend said, “That's fine,” so Warren’s wife started her prayer with the phrase “Dear heavenly Father.”  When she finished, her friend said that she could never pray those words since her father was such an [expletive].

Warren wrote, “The relationship people have with their fathers may directly affect their ability to relate to God the Father.  A ‘loving heavenly Father’ has no meaning to those who don’t know what a loving father is.  In fact, if their fathers were so terrible, any god who's also a father must be infinitely terrible!

“Jesus, on the other hand, in coming to tell the world how good the heavenly Father is, used his relationship with his Father as an evangelistic tool.

“There is a concerted attack on the institution of fatherhood by Satan himself.  The Devil's work is to influence dads to be disconnected, distant, or even abusive, so that children start life believing that this is how all fathers are—even a heavenly Father.

“And why attack the father?  Because the greatest, most powerful truth that any person who does not know Christ needs to hear in order to be saved is this:  God is a good Father whose desire and plan is to bring back his lost children to himself.  Satan knows that good fathers can pave the way for the gospel and, conversely, bad or absent fathers pave the way to separation from God.”

Malachi 4:6 tells us that one sign of spiritual renewal is when the hearts of the fathers will turn to their children, and the hearts of the children will turn to their fathers.  On the other hand, if that doesn’t happen, God said, “I will strike the land with a curse.”

So, honor your father—with what you do this Sunday and every week.  By doing so, you’ll be making your small contribution toward spiritual renewal in your community.

If possible, bring your dad to Hillcrest this week.  World-renowned trumpeter David O’Neil will perform in the morning.  Also, we’ll continue our June series called David Sings the Blues by looking at the antidote to anxiety.  This will be a real practical subject for men!  See you and your Bible this week!

—Tom

Roland Warren’s full article on fatherhood can be found at www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/005/28.53.html.