Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight (Proverbs 4:1–7).
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).
The Bible gives us quite a number of examples of fathers who faithfully knew and served the Lord.
These include fathers who were good role models for young men who aspired to be godly men and fathers.
Some of those persons were: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the list could go on and on.
Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist can be included in this number as well.
Now the only perfect father in the Bible is our Heavenly Father. All but Him had flaws. And God in His Word time and time again did not choose to hide some of those flaws.
Yet despite this, there were significant characteristics that these fathers had that all other fathers can learn from.
As a Christian father reads and meditates on the Word of God, he can learn from and grow in his faith as he reads and observes how these fathers loved and served God.
And he can also learn about mistakes to avoid as he reads about some of the mistakes these same fathers made that are recorded in Scripture.
The following are some of the characteristics that a faithful Christian father would be wise to seek to live by.
1) He has received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his life (John 3:16 and Romans 10:9). And he seeks to be a man, like David, after God’s own heart (Psalm 23).
2) He seeks to read the Word of God daily (Psalm 1 and Psalm 119:105). Reading three chapters in the Word of God a day is a good goal to pursue.
3) He spends time in prayer daily (Mark 1:35, Philippians 4:6-7, Daniel 6:10).
4) He seeks to bring the family together to read the Word of God, teach from the Word, and pray together (Deuteronomy 6:1–9 and Ephesians 6:1–4).
5) He takes and/or makes time to teach, train, discipline, and instruct his children, teaching them about God and teaching them wisdom for all areas of life (Deuteronomy 6:1–9, Proverbs 2:1-9, Proverbs 3:1–2, and Proverbs 4:1–6).
6) He seeks to take his family to church regularly-such as worship service on Sundays and Bible studies on Wednesdays (Joshua 24:15 and Hebrews 10:24-25).
7) He lives life with a mission mindset. He seeks with passion to fulfill the specific call of God on him, whatever that calling may be (Romans 12:1-2 and Colossians 3:1-3).
8) He works hard to provide for his family and seeks to be a good role model to his children and others as he works and takes care of his responsibilities (1 Timothy 5:8 and Genesis 2 [God gave Adam a job before He gave him a wife]).
9) He is a protector of his family (Matthew 1-2).
10) He is a good role model for his family and others in all areas of life (Joshua 24:15).
11) He has the wisdom and the courage to take responsibility and to deal with problems head on. He takes responsibility and does not run from it (1 Chronicles 12:32).
These are just a few characteristics that a Christian father would be wise to seek to live up to.
Any Dad who has these characteristics is clearly a blessing to the world we live in.
And that makes this kind of Dad a part of the solutions to this world’s problems.
