Jun
21
Fatherhood as Service
Filed Under Devotional
What order are the people on your list? I’m speaking of that list we all keep in our head of who we serve and, more importantly, who trumps whom. It wasn’t until I’d been married a few years that I got my list in the proper order. I still have trouble now and then remembering that order, but I think I’m doing pretty good at the moment.
My list starts something like this: Jesus, my wife, my son, my church, my job, my hobbies, and so on.
I was contemplating how we keep our focus on each of these things. I make the effort to remember what it means to serve Jesus at least every Sunday. I do what I can to keep that obligation on my mind daily, but we go out of our way to do so on Sundays.
I have two days a year that I have to absolutely focus on my wife: Valentine’s Day and our anniversary. I’m slowly (very slowly) getting better at spending time focusing on my servanthood to her as Paul described:
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” Ephesians 5:25
And, today, we have a day to focus on the next job in line: fatherhood. And, I’m fortunate enough to get to celebrate both as a father and a child! So, these scriptures are reminders of how I need to interact as a child and a father:
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4
Dad, I hope you feel honored, because I certainly hold you in high regard and continue to make my way through life with the moral lens you taught me to look through.
David, I hope you don’t feel exasperated. I hope you do feel trained and instructed (and we’re not done, yet).
I continue to serve both of you and I call on you all to consider how you are serving in these roles. This is not about who should be serving you, it’s about whom you are serving.