A Father’s Calling

Then the Lord said, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him." – Genesis 18:17-19 HCSB

Fathers, may I speak to you for a moment? Yes, I know you are busy with your career, family, church and hobbies. You may even have a ministry to which you are extremely devoted.

But busyness does not always equal accomplishment. Many people flail their way through life, unsure of where they are going and running nowhere as fast as they can. They are striving mightily, but ineffectively.

For help, take a moment and consider our ancestor Abraham. Yahweh gave His follower not only a goal, but a method to achieve it. It was as simple as it was sublime. He was to reach his kids.

If God called upon me to win the world for Christ, in my despair at the immensity of the job, I might waver and quit. Though the Great Commission[1] does apply to each of us, its accomplishment is equally simple if we will only be faithful.

God has blessed me with five children. If I successfully raise each of them to be godly parents, and each again have (for argument’s sake) five children, I will have twenty-five grandchildren. If I have properly discipled my children, they will raise their families according to the Word[2]. Those twenty-five grandchildren could potentially gift me with 125 godly great grandchildren. Are you getting the picture?

God wants us fathers to focus on the resources He’s given us – which includes our children. If we will only teach them and all our descendants to keep the Way of the Lord and to do what is right and just, we have the potential of changing the world, not just at the rate of one life at a time, but exponentially. This is how the Lord will fulfill what He has promised.

Go ahead. Go back to your career, your family, your church and your hobbies. Go minister to others with your spiritual gift. But be certain of where your energies should be expended. Do not waste a single day[3].

Be the tzaddik your children need you to be. If you force your child to study the Word, he may study it and may even force his own children to do the same. But if your child sees you passionate about God’s Holy Scriptures and studying it every day, soon you will feel a presence at your elbow, look down and see his small fingers tracing the text beside you.

[1] Matthew 28:18-20
[2] Proverbs 22:6
[3] Ephesians 5:16