Reflecting on Father’s Day, 2007
Posted on June 18, 2007
Filed Under Personal, Worldview |
Every year, I am thankful that I can still honor my dad. He is 94 and even though none of us have a guarantee of tomorrow, the odds are getting greater that this Father’s Day could be his last.
We picked him up at his place this morning and brought him over for a special dinner and a day of just being together. My gift to him this year is a promise to get him out for a week or two into the mountains which he so dearly loves. He is excited about that and so am I.
I talk about my dad in the Truth Project and at the training conferences. He has always had a heart for the outcasts and for those who are truly needy. Now he is needy and I am honored to serve him.
I suppose that is what Father’s Day is all about—honoring our dads. But it should be a day that is just symbolic of a lifetime of honor. God has ordered it that way. Children are to honor their parents. It is the first commandment with a promise—“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Eph 6:2)
Nothing is more heart-breaking to a dad than to have children who feign honor one Sunday a year, but disrespect him the rest of the time. Or, maybe it would be appropriate to talk about children who honor their Father on Sundays, but ignore Him the rest of the week.
I realize that this Father’s Day there are friends of mine whose hearts are breaking because they will not have children honor them—some because they have lost their children through death; some because they have no children, though they deeply long for God to give them some. I pray that the Lord will give you peace in the midst of your grief and patience in the midst of your longing.
I also know many who probably spent the day looking out the window because they have children who are wandering prodigals, hoping to see some sign of their return. If you are such a father, I pray God will soon answer your prayers.
If you are such a son, I pray you will return. Someone is waiting for you.
Do you realize how much this reflects our Father? I am reminded here of one of the most incredible verses in the Bible. Listen to God’s heart:
“To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations…” Isa 65:1-2
Is this not amazing? That God cares like that? It is too grand to imagine that the God of the universe holds out His hands all day long for His obstinate children.
And even more, isn’t it amazing that we have been given the privilege to address Him as “Father”? That is unique to Christianity. Some argue that it is too familiar; that God is too high and too lofty for us to address Him in this way—too holy.
Actually, that is true.
He is higher than high and loftier than lofty. He is thrice Holy. But that is what makes it all the more remarkable that He has given us the privilege to be called His sons and therefore the right to call Him Father without being struck down for impertinence.
But Jesus told us we have this right—that we can begin our prayers with “Our Father, who art in heaven…” The Scripture even gives us the privilege to cry out to Him with an even more familial term: “Abba!” which for us means “Daddy” or “Papa”.
Oh, my! What an incredible relationship granted to us.
It is a divine decree that we should honor our fathers. But the grander decree and the grander privilege is that we are to honor our Father in Heaven—not just on special days—but now and forever more.
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Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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Dr. Del,
I noticed another reference to a national status or a nation (Isaiah). I read back through some of the blog postings and responses. I was particularly caught by the repsonse about individual and corporate responses from God. You seemed to completely leave out any relationship between Jesus’ individual call to repentance and relationship and Jesus’ corporate call…the Kingdom of God. You made many O.T. quotes…but does not Jesus bring in an aspect of the Kingdom that is so beautifully O.T. and wonderfully N.T. This of course is one of the glaring criticisms of modern evangelical theology…the neglect of Jesus’ call of a corporate commitment. This is not on a national level any longer…but on a ???????? level. Now we are talking about things so much bigger and uncontrolable than nations. A bit radical don’t you think.
Hi Del
after listening to you talking about your Dad on The Truth Project DVD I felt convicted to put more effort into communicating with mine.
He has mild mental health problems. He drinks too much, he smells awful and he talks very loud sometimes saying embarressing or inappropriate things - but I can’t help loving him.
When it is my turn to go to the house with a meal or to check in on him I know I should make more of an effort to spend time with him and show him the love of Jesus.
To some in our family he is an outcast.
Your heart for your Dad has encouraged me and inspired me.
And yes - I did spend a lot of Father’s Day with him :o)
I was 38 years old when I had a dream of a little girl that was run over by a car. I picked her up and took her into a nearby house which was her home. She was ok and her mother called her Chislim. Chislim gave me a big hug for helping her and I felt a father’s love for the first time in my life. You see, I was single at the time and had no children of my own.
Within three years I was married, and we had a beautiful daughter. In rememberance of what God aloud me to feel in that dream I gave my daughter the middle name of Chislim, which to me means a father’s love.
I would have not understood this relationship if I did not become a father, I also know how much my dad loves me. I do not remember who said it but a parents love is always greater than the childs love for the parent, I can see that now and can not fathom our Father in Heaven’s love for us.
Thanks for another great post. This year was the second since I lost my father at age 82. I still miss him terribly and will always be greatful to God to have had a father of integrity, compassion, courage and love. I miss his big bear hugs and just talking to him about everything from his Navy days to the latest in politics to his service as an elder to his church. He was not perfect of course, but set an example for me as I father my own children, striving to love them as you describe the Father loving us as he did me.
And as so many others have experienced, my dad looked at his God and his family as the most important thing at the end. Even just a few days before he died of cancer, he spoke of how proud he was of his sons, both in the ministry, and how he was ready to meet his God. His years as an award winning, successful business man were never mentioned.