To The Dads of CFC

Mike Towers  |  CFC Features  |  Family, Fatherhood & Men

It sometimes feels like a cruel joke. When our kids are young and in most need of our attention, we are scrambling about, establishing our career and building a solid foundation for our family’s future. You fathers of young kids may be feeling “under the wave” as Bobby calls it. As men, we are prone to focus on one arena of our life (like work) and disengage from others (like family) when we’re overwhelmed. We’ve all been there. This is the part where I’m supposed to reference scripture about forgiveness and grace and talk about how the Lord has your kids in His hands, so you should pat yourself on the back and think happy thoughts. The truth is, we’re not off the hook so easily.

We’ve been given an assignment that comes with high stakes. It is possible to get it wrong. We can fail this mission the Lord has entrusted to us. We can miss our opportunity and our kids will live with the consequences of our inaction. Are you taking your role as dad seriously enough? Children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to be involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens. Kids need dads. And we need to feel the gravity of that assignment.

Proverbs 22:6 commands us to “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it”. It’s up to us to teach our kids right from wrong. Truth from lies. Humility, discernment, wisdom. How to ask forgiveness and how to grant it. How to listen, to compromise, to make the hard choices. How to practice self control in a world full of temptations. School won’t teach our kids those lessons. Our government won’t equip our kids with those tools. It’s on us.

Now for the good news. We can get this right. It’s not too early or too late. And if you feel ill-equipped for this mission, that’s OK! God chose you for this, and He will continue to arm you. You’re not on your own. He promises in 2 Cor. 12: 9-11 “…’My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” We don’t have to be perfect dads to succeed in this mission. We need to be humble and engaged, trusting in the Lord and being intentional with our kids over the long haul. This is a serious assignment, but you were born for this!

Happy Father’s day, CFC Dads. God Bless,

Mike Towers