Father’s Day is a day where we are to show respect and honor to fathers. We know that there is an expectation from God for all of His people to follow what he commands, and when we look at the Bible, we can see that there are things that fathers are to do. What we can also see in the Bible is some examples of faithful men doing the things that God commanded them to do.
One of the commands given to fathers is found in Ephesians 6:4, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” In this verse, Paul is encouraging fathers to train their children to act the way that God would have them to act. A great example of this would be Abraham. When we look back over his life and his time with Isaac, Abraham was teaching him the things that he needed to know to honor and respect God. If we were to look at the story of Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac, we can see the example of being faithful even if that seems like a tough decision. Abraham knew that God would still provide for him a son, and Hebrews tells us that Abraham would believe that God would raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:19). Abraham showed Isaac what faith was to be like and how you are to trust in God no matter what the cost is.
Another example of a father training their children would be Noah. In Genesis, Noah is commanded to build an ark, and so he does and he and his family are saved from the flood. The reason that Noah was the one selected to build the ark was that he was the only faithful man on the face of the earth. One big thing that can often get overlooked in training a child in the way they should go is the impact of an example of being faithful when others are not. Noah set an example for his children of putting God before all else even when all his neighbors were ignoring God.
A second command for fathers is the same for all people, and that is to live a godly life and be an example for others. In this, we can find some more faithful fathers and men. David would serve as a great example considering how he was called a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14). He was a man who we can see many different attributes that God expresses such as forgiveness for his enemies, but the one for us to focus on today would be his mindset of repentance. In Psalm 51 we can read about David’s plea for forgiveness after he was confronted by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12. David was willing to admit that he had sinned and that he had done wrong. This is something that fathers need to be willing to do as well so that their children can learn that it is understandable to be wrong from time to time. And that we should be willing to admit when we are wrong especially when it harms our relationship with God.
A final father for us to look at would be Joseph. Not the Joseph that we find in Genesis, but Joseph to father of Jesus. We are not told much about him, but what we are told about him shows his care for others and his desire to be righteous. Joseph learns that his betrothed (essentially wife) is pregnant and he decides to put her away quietly (Matt. 1:19). He cared about Mary enough that he was not going to put her to shame. Fathers need to show their children this kind of mercy and compassion.
We need to be thankful for our godly fathers here on earth. And those who do not have them can trust in their Heavenly father to see them through.
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