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The Most Critical Role A Father Has In The Life of His Children 

We asked the question, "What’s the most critical role a father has in the life of his children?"
  • Teach his children practical life skills, such as mechanics, budgeting, repairs, business?
  • Provide discipline in the household?
  • Plan and provide for his children's education?
  • Earn enough money to provide a comfortable lifestyle for his children and family?
  • Be involved with his children's activities, such as coaching a team or leading a group?
  • Guiding his child to excellence, by setting expectations and goals and seeing they are met?
All of the above are respectable roles for a father.  But the most critical role a father has, from the Bible's perspective, is to teach his child about God.

Fathers have the most important role in the life of their children.  The blessing of being a father is a great joy and with it comes great responsibility.  No single individual will have a bigger impact on his children's life, for good or bad, than the father.  God understood this, and so calls the father above all else to be the one who instructs the children about God's ways.
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."  (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, emphasis added)

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)


It’s important to understand the context of the commands God gave.  In the first verse above, God has just delivered the Israelites from captivity in Egypt.  God knew that the survival and prosperity of the entire Hebrew people depending upon fathers passing on God's teaching to their children.  They would continue to suffer as they had in the past without training in the life God wanted for them.  In the same way, when Paul brought the Gospel to the Gentiles in Ephesus, he knew the tendency would be for the people to go back to their old, godless way of living, unless fathers took the responsibility to train their children in the ways of the Lord.

The same principle applies today.  Our children's school systems, social activities, peers, coaches, etc.  are not going to train up our children in the ways of God.  Only a father can do that.  Without that critical teaching from a father, a child will fall into the godless, sinful living that is a product of our world.
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:13-14)

"To have a fool for a son brings grief; there is no joy for the father of a fool." (Proverbs 17:21)

"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death" (Proverbs 19:18)


But by accepting the God given responsibility to teach his children about God, a father provides love, compassion, faith and joy to his child.  The task is not easy, and often it may seem that the child is responding in the way we would like.  But God honors faith; if a father is faithful to this command, God will be faithful to provide the rewards for this effort.
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

"The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him." (Proverbs 23:24)


May the Lord bless you as you seek Him and teach your children about Him.

Written by: David and Kristina Edmisten, Copyright © 2010.  www.justopenthebook.com


Strengthen your life with God's word! Each week, you'll receive God's truth and how to apply it in your daily life!

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