Studies show at least one in three children are growing up in a home today with an absentee father. Ironically, the challenge of being a godly father in a world that focuses on comfort and pleasure is enormous. Most men believe that being a good provider means supporting a family financially.
However, a man should also contribute to his family’s emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental well-being. To achieve this, he must understand there are other currencies, in addition to money, that need to be provided.
Read: You Do Not Have Many Fathers
What godly Fathers should be to their families? The first step is trusting God. Knowing how to be a dad means trusting God. If you are on the path of being a godly dad, you won’t get that far without something guiding your steps. Psalm 119: 105 says your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It shows me the way wherein I should go.
What are you trusting in? Is it God? Does your direction point to his tenets? God is the first tool you need in your pack, which could affect your behavior in your family. So how should a Christian father behave towards his family?
A Christian Father as a Teacher
A teacher is a demonstrator. Christian fathers should be the teacher in their families. A godly teacher can make a world of difference in his family. He is impacting everything from love, hope, and faith. Other compartments include hard work, honesty, and patience.
Some qualities of a godly teacher include communication, listening, collaboration, empathy, and patience. These are the behaviors a godly father must possess as a compass for his family.
A Christian Father Knows Scripture
A godly father knows Scripture. As a man of God, you know that Bible knowledge is a vital tool. You and I need commands of God’s word so we can shine the light of God’s truth into the lives of our families. Psalm 119:11 says, Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Love and honor your wife. The best gift a father can give his children is to love their mother. Children are curious beings and what they grow up watching is vital to how your family is shaped. Children naturally seek to imitate what their parents practice.
Hence, healthy and loving interactions between their parents and a model of respectful behavior toward their mother, which is also a demonstrator of love to your wife, is a behavior expected from a godly father at home. Ephesians 5:25, 28.
A Christian Father is Slow to Anger
Consistency. Godly fathers channel their anger where it needs to go. Nothing confuses children more than inconstancy either in discipline or example. A father who is angry one minute and loving the next creates insecurity in his children.
Fathers need to be careful not to take out their frustrations on their children and later excuse their behavior by saying I was just upset.
A Christian Father Disciplines
A godly father disciplines his children appropriately. Wise discipline helps children learn to control themselves and keeps them out of serious trouble. So Hebrews 12:10 says,
They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.
Fathers are crucial. We are in a battle for our families. Everything from drug abuse to school dropout rates to children abandoning their faith worsens as fathers abandon their posts.
People often put it this way—It is more likely for a child to have a cell phone than a father at home.
Tunde Emmanuel Adeniyi has a BA in History and International Studies and Post Graduate Certificate in Education. He has a passion and love for Christ and he wants to share it with others.
