By Pastor Jeff Hanson
Ephesians 6:1-4, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
In our world today there is a lot of importance placed on sports figures, politicians, educators, jobs, etc. But one area that should receive a lot more notoriety is the “father”!
Now I’m well aware that we have in our world fathers that are truly unfit for that title, whether they are abusive emotionally or physically there are times that it is best for that person to be out of the picture. In the Guardians of the Galaxy we have Yondu telling Star-Lord at the end of #2 that Ego may have been his father but he was not his daddy.
We also need to be sensitive to the fathers who have lost a child that this can be a difficult time. As a father who has lost two children, I’m well aware of the pain of waiting for that text message, phone call, or card that never will come. I pray the comforter Jesus Christ will comfort you on this day and the days to come.
But overall, the “Father” is an important figure in the health of the family. Proverbs 23:22-26, “Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
In 1968, 85% of children under 18 lived with two parents (regardless of marital status); by 2020, 70% did, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS).
Fatherhood Initiative https://fatherhoodinitiative.org/research
Fatherless Homes Account For:
63% of Youth Suicides
71% of High School Dropouts
90% of Homeless: & Runaway Children
2x more likely to drop out of high school
4x more likely to grow up in poverty.
7x more likely to become pregnant as a teen.
1 in 4 children grow up without a father in the home.
Among the different ethnic groups, the numbers are even become more staggering:
Among whites 78.6% have homes with both parents, Hispanics have 67.9%, but among blacks you have only 41.3% of both parents living in the same home.
There are currently more than 17,000,000 (other research suggests nearly 30,000,000) children growing up in America without their fathers.
One of the main contributors to fatherlessness are divorce and out-of-wedlock births. In 2019 there were 1,498,113 out-of-wedlock births. That is 40% of all births in the United States.
Matthew 24:37-38, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,”
Children need both parents and with the growing absence of fathers, the focus is on the need for them. I applaud the single mothers that work so hard and are doing the best job they can alone, but we need to have fathers step up and do the job God ordained them to do!
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Fathers have the responsibility to teach children in the ways of the Lord.
This doesn’t always guarantee that our children will always do what’s right and that at times may even break our hearts. But no matter what we will love them.
The best way to understand the love that God has for us is to have children, the story of the prodigal son is a perfect example of Gods love for us, Luke 15:17-24, “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
We need Fathers!
Janesville Apostolic Ministries 