Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and
imploring each one of you as a father would his own children. I Thessalonians 2:11
Men today need to finish the job with their children. They need to be back in place where they can make a difference. This week we are going to look at being a father by example by looking at the life of Paul – a great biblical father by example.
A father needs to speak to his children in a way that will motivate them to do what is right. Paul spoke words of encouragement to the Thessalonians. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
A father's words should
"exhort, encourage and implore."
Colossians 4:6 says Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with
salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. It is important to remember that you never
build up by tearing down. Emotional speech should express compassion, care,
love and encouragement more than anger, frustration and control. Words can hurt
or heal. They can build up or tear
down. They can set a child on the right
path or cause them to go down the wrong way in life as well as into eternity.
Your words are vitally important!
Words of respect and love about
your spouse establish the basis of your children’s honor of their mother and women
in general. There is a reciprocal law
working in our lives as well as our children's lives. "Children learn what we live!" The behavior we model and the words we say
greatly impact the little (or big) eyes and ears watching and listening. They learn how to handle things in life and
how to treat people. Fathers, be sure
you never treat your wife in a way that you wouldn’t want your daughter treated
someday. Model what true respect and
love looks like. Model the Godly way a
man should treat her and make sure she knows she deserves the same.
Words are so powerful and can be
so destructive. Once they are out of
your mouth they can only be forgiven, not forgotten. As fathers we have to be aware of the power
of our words. Children will become what you
say they are. If you call them a
failure, they will believe that and never try to succeed because they believe
they can’t.
- Every boy wants to be a hero. Every boy wants to be powerful, he
wants to be dangerous, and he wants to know: Do I have what it takes? And all through those years, when he's
riding his bike with no hands or trying to look cool and doing all those
other things that boys do, he is looking to impress you. Because every boy
shares the same basic question: "Do I have what it takes?" And every boy looks to his dad to answer
it.
- Little girls want to know, “Am I lovely?” Nearly all a woman does in
her adult life is fueled by her longing to be delighted in, her longing to
be beautiful, to be irreplaceable, to have her Question answered, "Yes!"
The problem is, when little girls don't receive the assurance from
their fathers that they are beautiful and special, they struggle with
their sense of self-worth and seek that assurance from men later in life.
Fathers, you don’t want this to happen.
Scripture to Claim:
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
