Happy belated Father’s Day for all you fathers out there. For those of you like me who do not have children I too can relate to the pain you may have because of that. Since I have not fathered a child, you may want to take what I learned with a grain of salt.
Why are fathers important? What role do they play? Why do certain men abdicate their role and responsibilities to be a father, and cause pain and suffering? Why do we have such a large problem with absent fathers in the United States? Let’s consider what I have learned.
I would say there is a crisis of fatherlessness in the United States and leads the world in category. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 18,400,000, almost 25% of all children live in a home absent of a biological father, stepfather, or adoptive father. The ramifications are tremendous. According to the United States Department of Justice (the U.S. DOJ), 70% of children who are incarcerated come from fatherless homes. 75% of rapists were motivated by displaced anger associated with abandonment issues from absent fathers. U.S. DOJ, also says that 63% of youth suicides involve a child who was living in a fatherless home when they made their final decision. You can find out more here.
What changes with the presence of a father and what are the differences? I believe that a father gives children their identity. It is through the loving care and nurturing of the father that a child learns who he or she is. Deuteronomy 31:12-13 says, “Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (ESV)
There are several times in which God gave someone an identity most of which was in the changing of their name. He changed Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, and Jacob to Israel. He also gave Jesus His Identity in Matthew 3:17, “and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” (ESV)
Fathers have been given a great responsibility by God and that is to raise children in the ways of the Lord. They are to teach, talk about, and guide them. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (ESV) I believe in some ways the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of fathers. But the most important thing for fathers is having a relationship with God the Father and His Son Jesus. If you are a dad or a potential dad and do not know Jesus you can find out how to know Him.
God is also able to provide guidance for those who do not have an earthly father and be a Heavenly Father. Psalms 68:5 describes God as the Father to the fatherless, “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.”(ESV) God said, “and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV) I would encourage you to depend upon God for who you are. To do this you need to start a relationship with Him. He is truly the source of all hope.
For those of us who are not biological fathers we have opportunities to connect with a fatherless child and become a stand in father for them. Teaching them about loving God and loving Jesus and maybe even change the world one fatherless child at a time.
Join me in praying for and encouraging fathers to be all they can be with God’s help, and work toward changing the statistics of fatherlessness in the world. Let’s pray that each father would know that God is their Heavenly Father and He their source of hope. We also understand that the death of Jesus on the cross has taken away the sins of mankind. All you need to do is accept Jesus. It is by far the greatest choice you will ever make. Understanding that you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and this what brings the greatest hope all because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfying the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazonor Google
