Father's Day

In honor of Father's Day, I have asked my dad to share what he believes is the biblical role of fathers. Thank you, Daddy, for your words of wisdom and for being a wonderful father and leader in our home. I love you!

"The Christian father's foundational goal must be to live for Christ (Phil. 1:21). Only as he submits himself to Christ will he be able to effectively lead his family as God intends. Dad must earn the right to conscientiously say to his wife and kids, 'Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ' (1 Cor. 11:1). The father who seeks to love his wife 'as his own body' (Eph. 5:28), who views his children as a heritage/gift of the Lord (Psalm 127:3), and who strives to 'bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Eph. 6:4) will naturally acquire the respect from the family that will allow him as spokesman to confidently declare 'As for me and my house/family, we will serve the Lord' (Josh. 24:15).
Though no earthly institution is free of flaws, when Dad lovingly leads and Mom and the kids respectfully follow, the Christian home, the first institution established by God (Gen. 2:24, 1:27, 28), can be a haven of love and security for the family within and 'a shining city upon a hill' for the community without."
~Tim T******* (Daddy)

Malachi 4:6

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

"Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, Who loved thee so fondly as he? He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, And joined in thy innocent glee."
~Margaret Courtney

"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
~Unknown