Happy Father's Day, Dads! I feel that I am a very fortunate lady because I had a great father as a girl. Sadly, he passed away about eighteen years ago, but his memory and his legacy live on in my heart and my soul. So, thank you, Daddy. I also have a neat father-in-law who was a great father to my husband and is now a great grandpa to my kids. I am blessed to have a great husband who is a great dad to our children. Lots of great, right? Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment this Father's day to discuss the traditional role of what a father does and is in the family.
Too often in society, we dismiss the need for a father to make a family complete. We are hit over and over by advertisements that continually make Dads look stoopid and incompetent. Enough of that already! That is not how God intended it! God created a man and a woman in order for them to come together to create children in order to populate the earth. Let's begin at the beginning...
Genesis 1:27-28 says:
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
I could really use just this one scripture to put the proggies and the greenies out to pasture, couldn't I? Oh, well, another day. Happy Father's Day to them too.
I also really love Psalm 127 to describe the Christian household. Not only is the father important to the make up of the family unit, this says to me that he is vital. It reads:
"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-for he grants sleep to those he loves. Now get ready, here is the 'Father's Day part.' Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies at the gate.
Wow! Doesn't that just blow you away? It also blows away this theory that families should only have two children and if you have any more that that, you must be nuts...or Catholic. God said, blessed is the man whose family or quiver is full of them; meaning children. The Lord delights in large families, he does not mock them or despise them as we do in our society.
One of the other scriptures that comes to mind is one of the ten commandments found in Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." So that you may live long. Take a moment to let that soak in. You know, back in the days of the Old Testament, if you acted up or even looked at your parents cross-eyed, you were in serious trouble. There were consequences for misbehaving!
So, children, this Father's Day, please behave! From the Political Chicken, I hope that you all have a marvelous Father's Day and I hope I've helped put a more Biblical perspective into your day of the importance of your Dad and the traditional family.
