“Honor
your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land
that the Lord your God is giving you.” –Exodus 20:12 (ESV).
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor
your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a
promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in
the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring
them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” –Ephesians
6:1-4 (ESV).
Today
is Father’s Day, a day set aside to honor fathers, to remember the
significant role of a father in the rearing and admonition of
children, and a time for genuine appreciation for the influence of a
godly father.
Oh,
that all children everywhere could experience the joy and blessings
of having a godly father to guide them. For those of us fortunate
enough to have had such an influence in our rearing, today is a day
of thanksgiving for this blessing from God. From such an earthly
father children begin to learn the love and characteristics of the
Heavenly Father. I had a hard-working, humble father, one who loved
his children and his God. Such a legacy is transferred from one
generation to another. I was fortunate to have had a husband who
exemplified the commandment that honored his father and mother. He,
likewise, was an honorable father, one who brought our children up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and did not “provoke them
to anger” but loved and guided them. Today, on Father’s Day, I
recall with joy this legacy of honoring a good earthly father. I
appreciate deeply the influence and far-reaching spiritual benefits
of what it means to have had a good father and to have been married
to one who loved and instructed his children. Thanks be to God for
fathers thus imbued with God’s calling to their noble task, a
representative on earth of God the Father.
-Ethelene
Dyer Jones 06.21-2015.
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