June 17, 2012 Happy Father’s Day! As a Christian man (by Christian I mean one who loves Christ and gives Him first place in their life) the best thing which you can do for your children is to love their mother. (This is the subject of the devotions “Being a Godly Man” Part 1 and 2). Many books have been and continue to be written on parenting, yet this foundational principle is seldom if ever mentioned. By loving your spouse you demonstrate to your child what married love should look like when they become married. Children learn much more from our example than from our speech. It is very easy to tell them what is right but much more difficult to live correctly before them. The best example of this difficulty is the irony of the following quote from former President Bill Clinton. He said “people the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” He was talking about the nation but he could just as easily have been speaking of the power of fathers in their own home. Children learn from watching and then imitating their parents. When you truly understand the fact that your children are watching how you live, so as to imitate you, you should be frightened. This awareness should motivate us to be a better example. Someone has written; “One night a father overheard his son pray: Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.” According to the Scripture the way I raise my children will impact them for their entire life. 6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 (ESV) Many of the problems in our society today can be traced to a failure in our parenting. A generation is now being raised who not only do not know God, they know very little about anything else. In 2008 a book was written by Mark Bauerlein entitled: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30). Many of us complain when someone cannot make change, or is rude or vulgar. Guess what, each of those individuals about whom we complain had parents! Government, schools, and the church cannot become a substitute for the God given role of parent. Bad parents are a problem for all of society. It is easy to complain about other parents, but the only parents over which we have any control is ourselves. Unfortunately, as a general rule it is usually the Dad who is the most negligent of parents. Scripture seems to recognize this fact. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Colossians 3:20–21 (ESV) Dad’s have incredible power over their child’s emotional well being. A father who can never be satisfied can raise a son who refuses to try. A Dad who is emotionally distant can raise a daughter who becomes promiscuous as she seeks to find that emotional connection. Dad the bottom line is that your role as a parent to your children is vitally important. Society will never give you credit, but eventually your children will. You will make mistakes. From time to time you will have to go to your son or daughter and apologize but that is o.k. Will Rogers famously said “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.” I have always heard that “If you never make any mistakes, then your not trying.” Dad, please get in the game! Your sons and daughters need you more than they know or will ever admit.