God the Father is a paternal title given to God, a paternal bond refers to the relationship between a father and his child, beginning from conception.....Jer. 1:5 " Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." His love is proven through His actions towards His Children, Psalm 36:7 "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." His paternal excellence spreads far beyond our faults and failures, into the very depth of our souls, His ever merciful Grace covers us where ever we may go, He is the Ultimate Father....
And just like The Father, we must as fathers, follow in His footsteps. Beginning from the conception, an act of true love for your wife, not one of lustful or physical gratification on your behalf, but an act of pure unadulterated love for the woman you chose to live the rest of your life with. Then during the pregnancy a new Dad-to-be should be the calming influence. Just like when God sent the Angel to Mary and Elizabeth, He sent them to calm their fears, to assure them that everything was going to be well, this should be the future father's concern, building the trust between you and your wife that will carry on to your children.
That trust as a husband and Father needs to be backed by good scriptural fortitude and fueled by the directives of the Holy Spirit..." Gal. 5: 22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." When we follow these simple directives, we'll grow as Fathers and our heritage will be found in our children, as they too, grow and become parents themselves. Being a father when times are tough, now that is a shock to realism, especially in today's world, but.....when times are hard, we as fathers should hold tighter unto our children, drawing them closer to us, bonding even more building an everlasting relationship....as we find in James, " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. the verse reminds us that the tighter we hold unto God the tighter he holds us to His bossom, and the more relaxed our relationship becomes, from our earliest recollection on through to our departure, this same relationship is what we need to ensew with our children.
Being a Father requires 100% of our strength, stamina and fortitude, we need to be the Fathers who will carry our children, teach them right from wrong, by example as well as word, backed by love and tethered by faith. A tether that cannot be broken by time or loss, as there is nothing more devastating then letting go of your child, into the bossom from which they came, but as fathers who are strengthened by the trust we have in God, must also realize that He Too faced the horrible and the unbelievable act of having to say goodbye to His Son, upon which journeys end brought them together again in the glories of Heaven.
Raising our children to face the world, a world we yet to see, will definately try us as fathers, but is the victory worth the fight? You bet your bottom dollar it is. Reward? Absolutely, knowing that we did our job and did it well, is gratifying enough for me to continue on with my venture, moving from father to grandfather, enstilling the same principals of God and Life into our grandchildren as we did in our children and seeing the fruits of those works ripen into God fearing and loving adults ready to bear the torch......Happy Father's day.
