Devotion 4: The Challenge
Stephen Billings
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" Ephesians 6:4
As a part of today's devotional, I want to encourage you to take a moment to slow down and think through a few questions. Who in your life helped you grow in your relationship with the Lord? Who has helped you understand God's Word and the instructions God gives us inside the Bible? Was it a father, father-figure, role model, or friend?
There are so many different people in life who can help us understand who Jesus is and how to best live our lives for God. Friends, parents, family members, and co-workers are a few examples of who could play this role in our lives. However, in God's Word, when speaking of the role of the father, God shares that it is the father's role to help raise their children up, "in discipline and instruction of the Lord." This means that it is the father's role to help a child understand who God is and to live out the instructions that He has for us in obedience before Him. While we all need to play our part in helping others understand who God is, the Father is to lead in this training.
As a young father of three young children, I am learning how to lead my family and children. I am learning how each of my children responds differently to correction. As I raise my children alongside my wife, we learn together how we can best help our children understand their sins and the forgiveness that is given to them through the cross of Jesus Christ. However, I am not a perfect father. Sometimes, I miss opportunities for my children to learn and experience the Gospel and instead provoke my children in anger. While I fail at times, I know that Jesus was sent from our heavenly Father to this earth, to live a perfect life and set a perfect example for us to follow in our lives.
Today, I want to encourage each and every father reading this to accept the challenge to lead their children based on the wisdom that God has given us in His Word. However, fathers, we cannot do this alone. We need others. Galatians 6:2 says to "bare one another burdens." We need to come alongside and help fathers in their pursuit of leading their children and families to live obediently to Christ.