Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.  And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.  Ephesians 5:1-3  HCSB

Today we have a wealth of information at our fingertips.  If you want to know how to do something, just search it on the internet.  If you want video instruction, go to YouTube.  I do not consider myself handy in the least, but I managed to get an extra year out of my washing machine, but going to YouTube and learning how to replace a few parts.  The parts were cheap and I saved the cost of a service call which last I checked is about 80.00.

Yesterday, we talked about parenting and disciplining children.  Since we will be celebrating Father’s Day tomorrow, I thought that it would be good to wrap this up by talking about learning how to be a good dad.  I’ve often heard it said that there are no instruction manuals when it comes to raising children, but actually that’s not true.  You see, the Bible gives us instructions on everything in life.  Even better than YouTube.

Now if you are not yet a dad, then good, you are getting in on this from the beginning.  But no matter what stage of life, you are in, this is good advice.  This scripture passage tells us to imitate God.  If we imitate God then we can’t go wrong, right?  It tells us to conduct ourselves as dearly loved children.  Not spoiled rotten brats.  When we realize the love that God has for us, it makes it so much easier to just focus on Him.  It makes it much easier to give our cares to Him because we know how much He cares for us (1Peter 5:7).

Thanks to technology, you can even use a search engine on how to find out what the Bible says about how to handle certain problems.  You can search it of course, but there is also a website called openbible.info.  This site has a topical search within the site.  You can put any topic in there and it will pull up a number of verses dealing with that topic.

So I ask you today, if your children were to imitate you, what would they be doing?  Would they be disrespectful and abusive to their mom?  Would they be untrustworthy?  Would they be lying?  Or, would they be walking in love?  Would they be imitating Christ?  Would they be treating others with genuine respect and kindness?  You see your kids do as you do, not so much as you say.  So you need to really think about this one.

I hope in this series of blogs that I have posted this week, that you didn’t think I was coming down hard on Dad’s or parents in general.  I merely think that parenting is the most important job there is.  I mean you have a human being with  whom God has entrusted you.  You have control over someone’s life.

This is major.  For me, It was so scary that I was just never able to do it. Maybe it was from working for so many years with other people’s children and seeing the worst of the worst.  Now I have been blessed with a wonderful stepson and he has blessed our family with a wonderful young woman that I hope will someday be a daughter in law.  But, she’s already like a daughter to us.  I have also been blessed with wonderful nieces and nephews.  Who knows, someday I may even be blessed with grandchildren.  But as we were watching the telecast of Bucky Kennedy, who was speaking at a men’s conference at the First Baptist Church of Houma, a couple weeks ago, he said something that really made me think.  He said, “we must remember that children are blessings, they are not idols”.

So, if you have a child or are planning to someday be a parent, remember that God blesses us with children, but we should never idolize them.  Parents have a responsibility to set a good example for their children.

Perhaps this Father’s Day you are like me and only have memories of your Dad as he has gone on to his eternal home in glory.  I have many good memories of my Dad, but the one that was the best hands down, was the day I saw him give his life to Jesus.  Seeing him in that baptistry was so awesome.  Seeing the peace that God gave him in his life in the years to follow was wonderful.  I waited 40 years to see that.  If your children are waiting for you to have peace in your life, don’t keep them waiting.  Turn to God and ask Him to help you be the best parent you can be.

If you want the peace and joy that God promises, then you have to walk with God.  You have to draw near to him.  When you do this, then you will be setting an example for not only your children, but your coworkers, you friends and everyone else you may encounter.

So Dad’s, I pray that you have a wonderful Father’s Day and that you are the dad that God intended for you to be.  If you feel that you fall short, it’s not to late to correct that, just follow God’s example.

Have a wonderful Father’s Day!