This month, we celebrate Father’s Day, at least some of us will. While Mother’s Day is widely celebrated with cards, gifts, flowers and going out for dinner, Father’s Day is less celebrated, largely because in too many families there is an absence of fathers. To be fair, as a dad, I don’t need flowers, a fancy card or to go out for dinner. If I can spend the day with my wife, hear from my adult children and eat a good steak barbecued at home, it will be a happy Father’s Day.
The Bible calls fathers the head of the home. Fathers are held responsible for how their children turn out as they grow up. Yet, today we seem to think that fathers aren’t all that important to the family. Too many men are fathering children that they have no intention of raising or supporting. What a tragedy this is for children, families, our community and our country.
Fathers teach their children valuable lessons when they are actively involved in the process of parenting. Fathers are the ones who are best qualified to teach their sons how to be men. They can show their children how a wife should be loved, how a man should treat a woman and how to make important decisions in the life of the family. Dads teach their kids how to throw a ball, catch a ball, bait a hook, catch and clean a fish and many other things that just aren’t the same when mom tries to teach them.

Families where there is a father and mother in the home are far less likely to live in poverty than single parent families. Fathers should be the ones to set an example to their children in how they handle the responsibility of leading a family, providing for them, praying for them and teaching the children a strong work ethic. The Bible says, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Absent fathers and fathers who refuse to hold steady employment, set a poor example for their children.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, tells us to learn the things of God, His laws, His love and His values, and to pass them on to our children and our grandchildren, doing everything possible to make sure they understand and incorporate those values into their lives. In the last 50 years in our country, we have done a poor job of passing on the teachings of God to our children and our grandchildren. Our schools have forbidden it. Our colleges have persecuted or shamed anyone who holds on to strong, Godly beliefs. Too many of our children today don’t know that God created them, loves them and has a plan for their lives.
The Bible lays the responsibility for this teaching squarely on the shoulders of the fathers.
Having been a father for nearly 43 years, I can tell you from personal experience that there is great joy in being actively involved in the lives of your children. I am convinced that I didn’t bring near the joy to my two children as they were growing up as they brought to me. I pray that more men will find the joy of actively participating in the lives of their wife and children that so many actively involved dads have found. Investing yourself in the lives of your children while they are home will give you great joy in your life once they are grown and are bringing grandkids to visit.
May all of the dads out there have a very happy Father’s Day. May we continue to find the joy that comes from being a dad.