Psalm 89:26-28 “And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.
Psalm 89:26-28 “And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation. I will make him my firstborn son, the mightiest king on earth. I will love him and be kind to him forever; my covenant with him will never end.”
June is Father’s Day and I had the best earthly father that anybody could want. I believe that is one of the reasons it is so easy for me to accept the love, guidance, and discipline of my heavenly Father. But what if you didn’t have a good earthly father or something happened to your father. No statistic is more troubling than this: almost 40% of all births in America are born out of wedlock, end in divorce, fathers passed away due to sickness, war and even COVID. That means that for almost 40% of all children, their lives begin or are being lived out, without the presence of a father in the home. Some of the fathers that are in the home are passive in their leadership role with the children, or so involved in their career that he is essentially nonexistent in the home. Certainly, what we are seeing in our contemporary society is the crisis of the absentee dad. It is terrifying to think what this means to our nation’s future.
God’s Word is clear that the father is to be the spiritual leader with a spirit of love for his wife and his children. This is not a dictatorial or authoritarian leadership. It’s a Christ-centered servant leadership. It requires understanding of the fragile psyche of a child in the home that needs to be built up and not torn down. It means understanding the importance of discipline in the child’s life. And it involves loving instruction, explaining what is right and wrong. The first step in being a good father -– as with every other aspect of success -– is simply showing up. God sent the prophet Elijah in Malachi 4:6 “His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers…” This tells me that we are all responsible to preach and teach what the Word of God says to the fathers and children in our families, churches, at the Christian Caring Center and in our men’s shelters. We all know someone that is a father or a child that have been separated from each other. Sometimes we need to step in and support the single mothers, the fatherless, restore broken fathers, etc. We have that privilege at the Christian Caring Center especially in our 90 day men’s shelter program. We are able to speak and encourage these men to be all that God intended them to be. We have seen broken hearted men restored, gotten work, reunited with their families and housed. We can only do that with your help. We are allowing God to do a mighty work in these men and in turn they give back to their families, especially their children. We could never do this without the support and prayers that you give.
Thank you for sharing your prayers, time and financial gifts to spread this wonderful Gospel to the people we serve at the Christian Caring Center.
Abiding in Him,
Madelyn Sutton,
Executive Director
