Be a dad of meaning and help other dads to find value.

Do you know the roles and responsibilities that speak to the meaning of being a dad? Do you realize the importance of being a dad? Have you ever considered the calling on your life to be a dad? As we step into today let’s realize that we’ve been put into a position that is important to God, to our wife, and our kids.

Biblical Insights into the Meaning of Being a Dad

Key Aspects of Fatherhood According to Scripture:

1. Teaching and Guiding:
   • Proverbs 22:6 says: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
2. Disciplining:
   • Hebrews 12:7 mentions: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?”
3. Loving and Caring:
   • Psalm 103:13 says: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”
4. Providing:
   • 2 Corinthians 12:14 states: “Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.”
5. Leading:
   • Joshua 24:15 says: “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Application and Practice:

• Teach and Guide: Regularly engage in Bible study with your children.
• Discipline with Love: Correct your children with patience and love.
• Show Compassion: Reflect God’s love in your daily interactions with your children.
• Provide Faithfully: Work diligently to meet your family’s needs.
• Lead Spiritually: Model a Christ-centered life for your household.

Embracing Biblical Fatherhood: Adding Value to Your Family

Key Qualities and Responsibilities of a Valuable Dad According to Scripture:

1. Know and Study God’s Word: Daily involvement and teaching
   • Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says: ‘These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ‘
2. Train and Guide Children: Lead them on a righteous path
   • Proverbs 22:6 says: ‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’
3. Provide Discipline: Discipline with fairness and love
   • Proverbs 3:12 says: ‘because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.’
4. Love and Care for Children: Meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs
   • Matthew 7:9-11 says: ‘“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ‘
5. Love His Wife: Model Christ’s love for the church
   • Ephesians 5:25 says: ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’
6. Lead Spiritually: Guide the family in faith and lead by example
   • Joshua 24:15 says: ‘But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord .”’
7. Show Patience and Understanding: Foster loving and respectful relationships
   • Colossians 3:21 says: ‘Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.’
8. Maintain Integrity: Live above reproach and be blameless
   • Titus 1:6 says: ‘An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.’

Application and Practice:

• Study and Teach the Bible: Incorporate Bible study into daily family routines.
• Guide and Mentor: Offer consistent guidance and support in your children’s lives.
• Discipline with Love: Correct with the aim to nurture, not just to punish.
• Provide Holistically: Ensure your children’s well-being in all aspects.
• Model Love in Marriage: Show sacrificial love to your spouse as a witness to your children.
• Lead by Example: Demonstrate a vibrant and sincere faith.
• Practice Patience: Build a nurturing environment through patience and understanding.
• Exemplify Integrity: Lead a life that sets a godly example for your family.

By embodying these qualities, fathers can significantly add value to their families, fostering a loving, supportive, and spiritually rich home environment.

The Biblical Role of Fathers: Impacting Family and Society with meaning

The Importance of Fathers According to Scripture:

1. To God: Responsible for the spiritual welfare of the family
   • Ephesians 6:4 says: ‘Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.’
2. To Wives: Model Christ’s love through respect and love
   • Ephesians 5:25 says: ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’
3. To Children: Provide physical, emotional, and spiritual needs
   • Colossians 3:21 says: ‘Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.’
4. To the World: Shape the next generation and influence society
   • Proverbs 20:7 says: ‘The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.’

Key Responsibilities:

• Spiritual Leadership: Nurture and instruct in God’s ways.
• Marital Love: Respect and love their wives.
• Parental Guidance: Balance discipline with affection.
• Societal Impact: Lead by example, promoting love and wisdom.

Application and Practice:

• Foster Spiritual Growth: Engage in family devotions and prayer.
• Show Respect in Marriage: Demonstrate love and respect in daily interactions.
• Balance Discipline and Affection: Correct and commend with love.
• Model Godly Living: Exhibit values that positively influence society.

Fathers can create a godly home and contribute to a more compassionate and understanding world by fulfilling these roles.

Topic: THE POWER OF ONE

Verse: Acts 8:31 (NIV)

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Finding Meaning through answering God’s call

Today’s Devotional speaks to the importance of doing our part in fulfilling God’s calling on our lives through the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. As dads, we need to be walking in the Spirit so that He can lead, guide, comfort, and instruct us in all righteousness, and through His still quiet voice, we can be moved to do and say what He has for us. The Spirit moved on Philip and he was able to speak to the Ethiopian eunuch “about a prophecy from Isaiah.” It led Philip to “share the gospel, which resonated with his listener to the point where he asked to be baptized and made his simple confession of faith.” It was a simple act of obedience to the prompting of the Spirit that transformed the Ethiopian and so he rejoiced in Acts 8:39.

Meaning goes beyond having a special title

Today’s Devotional shares how we don’t need a special title or be a part of a special family to be able to accomplish great things for God. It shares how “two ordinary individuals — that’s the simple relationship of the story.” As followers, we need to step up and stand up so that when called by the Holy Spirit we can “minister to one person” whom God divinely brought into our lives. It’s not about a multitude but rather it’s about the one, the one God has placed in our lives. God cares so much for each of us on an individual basis. As Jesus shared, He will leave the 99 to find the 1.

'Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. '
-- Luke 15:3-7

So let’s be the dads like our Heavenly Father who “deeply loves every one of His children and knows each of them intimately.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. -- Psalms 139:1 (NIV)

Today’s Devotional provides us as dads with the following challenge: “When you know Chris, you can reflect this same love. Who do you know who needs to know Christ? Ask God to lead you to someone who needs Him, and open the Scriptures to him or her. You can rejoice when that individual responds to His call.”

“The essence of faith is ‘being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.”

JOHN PIPER