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Five "F's" of Fatherhood - Family Focused

Continuing through Psalm 128 and looking at God's plan for fathers, it became clear that Fathers should be Family Focused.  While other things and areas are important in our lives, we need to keep family as a priority right behind the Lord. 

Joshua said it best in 24:14-15, "Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness...And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  Joshua started out the same way our Psalm did, with fear and faithfulness.  He then made a personal decision, "as for me," to serve the Lord.  After his personal decision, he made a family decision, "and my house," that they would serve the Lord.  Joshua led his family to the Lord through fear, faithfulness, and service.  Are we doing that today?

The first part of Psalm 128:3 reads, "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house."  The writer here gives us the image of wife being a tender vine.  She's not as tough on the outside as the man, but still has enough strength and flexibility to handle whatever comes her way.  A vine can be very fruitful, but to grow tall it needs something solid to lean on.  Men, that's where we come in.  For us to be truly effective fathers, we must support our wives and mothers.

The second part of Psalm 12:3 reads, "Your children will be like olive shoots around your table."  Now one interesting part to me about this was that olive shoots grow directly off the main root of the tree to reproduce.  They're not like most plants where a seed is tossed out or scattered.  We don't just toss our children out and hope someone takes care of the seeds, they are linked directly to the tree.

So why would the writer combine vines and olive shoots in one verse here about family?  They must have something in common.  They both need to be cared for and cultivated.  Without proper provision, each will at worst die, or at best only be slightly fruitful, never reaching the full potential of what God intended them to be.  So how do we cultivate our children?  Ephesians 6:4 tells us, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."  We are not to place unreasonable demands on our children.  This applies to any area of their life; school, sports, primary development, and others.  Our children are different from us, and are designed by God so let them follow his plan, not ours.  Josh McDowell summed it up by saying, "Rules without relationships make rebellion."

Often we look at pictures or stories today and wonder why we don't have a perfect family.  Well I don't think that my family will ever be the world's picture of perfection, but we will do our best to be serving the Lord and be grateful for the blessings he gives us.

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