There is a tendency to assume that fatherhood is primarily an issue for fathers and only peripherally related to other subjects. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Fatherhood is like the proteins that make up our DNA or the subatomic particles that make up matter. We may not always see the connections, but fatherhood lies at the very core of everything.
Fatherhood is foundational. And if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do (Ps. 11:3)?
People mistakenly believe that fatherhood is a metaphor we apply to God. But Scripture, along with our creeds and confessions, teaches us that God is Father.
Fatherhood is central to understanding the Trinity, the relationship between Jesus and His Father, the message of the gospel, and the benefits that flow from it. Every Christian, male and female, must understand themselves as a child of God the Father.
Fatherhood is also essential to understanding the proper use and abuse of authority. Consequently, a biblical understanding of fatherhood is an antidote to both hyperpatriarchy and feminism.
We live in an age when earthly fathers have, en masse, rejected their calling to imitate God in the exercise of their God-ordained role. The results have been catastrophic.
Our jails and streets are filled with the bitter fruit of fatherlessness. Young men, not knowing what it means to be godly men, become either effeminate or thuggish. Young women, deprived of the love and approval of godly fathers, become either promiscuous or ashamed of their God-given sexuality.
Our homes desperately need fathers.
But I believe our God is faithful. I believe He will raise up a new generation of godly fathers who fear Him. In fact, I already see it happening.
I pray this is only the trickle before the flood.
Painting: Jean Eugène Buland
God, give us fathers!
