Happy Father's Day!
I'll set the tone of this writing by sharing a quote from John Adams:
"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
I share this quote for two reasons, first to shift the mindset on Father's Day from our immediate one father, but to the hundreds and thousands of fathers who, for generations have sacrificed, many with blood and life to create the life we have today, and second to set the record straight that all of those things they sacrificed for would not have come to fruition without the Providence of our heavenly Father.
The impact of a Father should not be viewed to and certainly does not stop at the first generation. His action or inaction will be felt for hundreds of years. The Lord says that he will place curses on generations that follow those who curse him but bless a thousand generations of those who faithfully serve him.
let the following example simmer:
This is a juxtaposition between two men who lived in the same state and during the same years. Jonathan Edwards a God-fearing father who took action and Max Jukes, a worldly man. Men have studied 729 of Edward's descendants. Of this number came 300 preachers, 65 college professors, 13 university presidents, 60 authors, 3 United States congressmen, and one vice president of the United States. Men have also studied Jukes' descendants: Three hundred of them died prematurely. One hundred were sent to the penitentiary for an average of 13 years each. One hundred ninety were public prostitutes. There were 100 drunkards.
The difference is action in the realm of our command as Fathers to raise up our children in the training and admonition of the Lord. This cannot be outsourced to teachers at school, Sunday school teachers at church, daycares, private schools, coaches, etc. Children learn 10 % from what you say is important, and 90% from what they SEE is important based on your actions and the life you live with and in front of them.
Theodore Roosevelt said:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deed might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Toast today the fathers who have come before us who got in the arena. Blessed are we who have the privilege to be downstream of their faithfulness, sacrifice, and obedience to Christ. May we be numbered among them.
“Whoever fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.” Proverbs 14-26
amen. listen to your fathers and learn from their example. consider their faith and follow it; consider their follies and avoid them.
ReplyDeletePsalm 78
Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.