I found a devotional that was a bit longer and that sounded powerful as a message so that it could help us learn and become the dads God created and purposed for us to be. So I chose “Just For Dads: Be A Positive Christian Role Model” because, over 21 days, we will get to read and learn about how to be a positive Christian role model for our family! Over 21 days, we will get to learn about topics like: “self-discipline, love, patience, and much more“! This devotional will not only help us be the dads but it will also help us “in our day-to-day life to show our children what it truly means to be a role model and follower of Christ in every sense“.
Let’s check out our scriptures for today’s devotional:
‘In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” ‘
Isaiah 6:1-8
Let’s be the dads who make time to hear from God! Let’s be the dads who find a reading plan, a devotional, or make a plan to make sure we spend time in God’s Word daily on our own! Let’s be the dads who aren’t just hearers of the Word but are also doers of the Word! God’s Word will meet us right where we are at!
Let’s be the dads who are living to bring glory to God! Let’s be the dads who allow Jesus into our hearts to create a new heart, a clean heart so that from the overflow of our hearts our mouths will speak with clean lips! Let’s be the dads whose lives have had the guilt taken away by Jesus and our sins atoned for by His sacrifice on the cross! Let’s be the dads who hear God speaking to us! Let’s be the dads who will answer God’s call on our lives! Let’s be the dads who will go where He sends us! Let’s be the dads who will respond like Isaiah and say “Here am I. Send me!” Let’s be the dads who will stand in the gap when there is a gap that is found!
Today’s devotional has been provided by Zondervan!
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me:
(check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
For more information, please visit Just For Dads: Be A Positive Christian Role Model | Devotional Reading Plan | YouVersion Bible for more details.
Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“Be very careful“
- Let’s be the dads who are ready, in and out of season!
- Let’s be the dads who are prepared so as to be ready at any moment!
- If Jesus came back right now, would you be ready?
- If Jesus came back right now, would you go running or would you step carefully?
- Are you ready, heart, mind, and soul in the right place in case Jesus returned right now?
- Today’s analogy from the devotional uses the experience of fireworks when it shares the following story (which resonates with me as growing up we didn’t do our own fireworks either):
- “My wife, Bobbie, has no affection whatsoever for the Fourth of July. Of course, I’m not referring to our nation’s celebration of independence from the tyranny of eighteenth-century British rule. I’m referring to firecrackers.
Neither of us grew up in states where private citizens could buy or detonate fireworks. So, after we were married and moved to a state where this was legal, I loaded up. I told my wife that I bought and shot off firecrackers so our girls would have a special experience of celebrating our nation’s freedom. She wasn’t listening.
One of the more interesting moments during the Wolgemuth family fireworks show was when one of these Chinese delights didn’t go off. I had lit the fuse, seen the sparks, heard the unmistakable hissing sound, run like crazy . . . but nothing had happened. In a few minutes, the girls had uncovered their ears and had declared that one a “dud.”
Unfortunately, it was my job to go back to the misfired device to see what had happened. If you have ever done this, you know exactly what I’m describing. The last thing you’d ever do is to boldly walk up to the firecracker, pick it up and look it over. No, actually, what you do is to carefully tiptoe toward the fizzled waste of money. It’s as though you’re on thin ice. Your heart is pounding in your temples. Your children are cheering you on. Your wife is in the house, dialing 9 – 1 – 1. You’re literally shaking at the thought that it still might blow up. This is not funny.”
- “My wife, Bobbie, has no affection whatsoever for the Fourth of July. Of course, I’m not referring to our nation’s celebration of independence from the tyranny of eighteenth-century British rule. I’m referring to firecrackers.
- Today’s devotional reminds us of the message in the Old Testament warning us not to enter “God’s presence casually”
- We aren’t to enter into God’s presence “Glibly“
- We aren’t to enter into God’s presence “Forgetting His awesomeness“
- We aren’t to enter into God’s presence “Forgetting His power“
- We aren’t to enter into God’s presence “Forgetting His restraint in light of our sinfulness“
- Let’s be the dads who aren’t looking to point out everyone else’s sin but have made sure to take care of our own shortcomings!
- Let’s be the dads who aren’t walking around with a holier than though type of attitude but instead are walking humbly realizing that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and it is only thanks to Jesus that we have been saved by grace through faith!
- Let’s be the dads who consider what today’s devotional has to tell us about Isaiah’s experience:
- Let’s be the dads who grab hold of this reality of God and then add to the mix “this same God loves us and tenderly calls himself our Father? Let the contrast of these two incredible truths bury themselves deeply in our hearts.“
- Today’s devotional concludes with the following thought:
- For me, I remember that first 4th of July for my family and how it felt like we had moved into a subdivision in the midst of a warzone. I remember a couple of cul de sacs over one of the neighbor’s fireworks went into their neighbor’s roof and totaled the house. There might be a time and a place for this but the place needs to be where it won’t hurt anyone or anyone’s property. For me, when a firework didn’t go off, I didn’t risk it but was like a firefighter with the hose full power to soak the thing, and then when I did pick it up I put it into a bucket of water. (taking no chances)
