Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Culture has degraded the importance of the father. From primetime sitcoms, and popular cartoons, to mainstream society, the father has been vilified or the very least has been made non-essential.
The Bible speaks about the importance of the father. Fathers are an important structure of the family. This doesn’t mean that ladies are inferior or less important. It just means that this is the order that God has established. The Bible states that they are the head of the home, the provider, the encourager, and the protector—to name a few. I have written about the father being the provider of the home before, today we will focus on a father being an encourager to his family.
A father should promote or encourage his family! He should encourage his family in the things of the Lord and value the short time he has with his family. His family should cherish his attention and look forward to him being with them. This does not come on accident; it has to be on purpose. Fathers, we cannot come home after a tired day of work, angry or taking out frustration our on our family. That will discourage your family! Instead, come home with the right type of attitude and find ways to edify and encourage them. We all have hard days at work, but do not compound your frustration on your family and make a hard day worse! So, finds ways to encourage them, uplift them, and praise them when you are with your family.
Some of the reasons why God allows trouble in our life is so we can look to Him for help and so we can be a portrait of God’s grace to show people how to respond to adversity. Promote peace and harmony with your family! Use adversity to teach your children how to respond to them. Use the adversity to train, not to react hastily or out of control. Choose to pray and ask God for the grace and strength to honor Him in those situations. God uses trials in every home so the family can teach the next generation how to handle them biblically.
Another way to encourage your family is to build strong individual relationships with them. Talk to your children! Ask them questions. Allow them to ask you questions. Let them know that you love them by telling them verbally and displaying it through your actions. Start with superficial conversations and work your way to what is inside their heart. You should never be too busy to listen to your children or spend time with them. You only have them for a short amount of time, do not waste it! Make it memorable! Make sure the time you give your family is a time where they can look back and value every moment of it.
So how are you doing, fathers? How is your relationship with your family? If it is strong, keep it up! If it is not where you want it to be, ask for grace from God and, let’s step it up!
