"Because you are sons and daughters, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba Father!" Galatians 4:6
Father’s Day can be a glorious day for many, and it can also be excruciatingly painful for others. As for me I loved my Father deeply, and I know he deeply loved me. However we loved each other realistically knowing our imperfections which required extending grace and forgiveness to one another we learned from our Heavenly Father. One thing we both knew to be true is there is only one perfect Father, and that is our Heavenly Father. Even the best dads are without faults and failures. As I watched my own Father struggle with alcoholism as I became an adolescent, somehow I knew deep down Daddy was doing the best he could at the time. I might add there are also no perfect children.
In order to become a good father or mother we must first choose to become children of God the Father. He made that possible through His Son. Then we must lead our children to that same Father. That is the only way to remain genuinely close as a family and to maintain good relationships. We must establish God’s Word as the authority in our homes. If all choose to come under that authority you will achieve and maintain unity. But when one chooses to rebel against God’s truths there will be division, and as Jesus said in Matthew 12:28:
"Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and any city or house divided against itself will not stand."
God established the institute of family, and He made the man the head. The Father has the authority to establish his home under the authority of God’s Word, but first his life must be under that authority. That is the key to successful marriages and families. Mothers and wives must respect that authority which requires her submission as well to God’s authority. This creates unity in the marriage and home. If this foundation is laid and maintained the gates of hell cannot prevail against it! The children will follow strong Godly leadership lived out in the home.
In John 17:23 Jesus gave the definition of unity:
"I in them and You in Me that they may be perfected in unity."
So as we honor our fathers on Father’s Day let us begin by honoring our Heavenly Father who is perfect in all His ways, and never leaves or forsakes us. Let us forgive as we have been forgiven by Him. Let us recognize the Spirit of His Son sent from God to cry out Abba Father, and in doing so we are able to love our imperfect families as we have been loved by our Heavenly Father. Freely we have received; now we must freely give. (Matthew 10:18) May all fathers turn to the Heavenly Father, and follow Him for their families’s sake and His name’s sake.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
I want to honor and remember my father, Thurman Roberts, who taught me a love and respect for the things of God, a love of horses, and a love of the land. This separation is only temporary. I will soon join him, and our Savior, and the horses we loved til they died, Goldie and Victor.
