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PAGE
TITLE:
CBN Father’s Day Devotion
ARTICLE
TITLE:
A Perfect Father
DATE: N.A
AUTHOR: Dianne Neal Matthews
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Dianne Neal Matthews is a freelance
writer and the author of four daily devotional books. Her newest release is Designed for Devotion: A 365-Day
Journey from Genesis to Revelation (Baker Books). Visit her at her website, on Facebook, or on Twitter.
"You
were always there for me, Dad!" Sierra shoved that card back in the rack.
"How can I thank you for all the things you taught me as a child?"
Not quite right, either. She grimaced. Where's a card that won't make me feel
like a hypocrite? Something like "You were always too busy with your career
to come to my recitals and school plays so I don't really have childhood
memories of fun times with you and now we feel so distant from each other that
conversation is mostly about the weather or the news, but Happy Father's Day
anyway."
No
father is perfect. Eli and David were both godly men placed in leadership roles
who devoted themselves to the Lord. Yet they each made serious mistakes in
parenting that not only damaged their own families, but had a negative impact
on the nation of Israel. Another example is Lot. Even though the Bible
describes him as a righteous man (see 2 Peter 2:7-8), Lot failed his daughters
in a way that caused much misery and degradation. When men from Sodom
surrounded Lot's house and demanded sex with the two men who were his guests,
Lot offered them his virgin daughters instead. Lot placed greater importance on
his role as host than on his role as father and protector of the children God
had entrusted to him.
It's
hard to imagine how the girls felt about being offered to a half-crazed mob for
sexual pleasure, and by their own father at that. We do know from their later
actions that they had no respect for themselves or for Lot. After God destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters lived a secluded life in a cave in
the mountains. The girls tricked their drunken father into having sex with
them. They placed greater importance on continuing the family line than on
basic laws of morality. The sons born from this incest grew up to be the
ancestors of two of Israel's bitterest enemies.
Each
one of us has probably felt let down in some way by our parents, whether by
minor disappointments or by deep, lasting wounds of neglect or abuse. We may
have a distant or strained relationship with our father; we may even be
completely estranged from them. Maybe a part of us still feels like a needy
child, longing for our daddy's love and approval, which may never come. It's
easy to forget that all earthly fathers are human and prone to mistakes, just
as we are. Our parents most likely had their own hurts and emotional issues
that we were never aware of.
Regardless
of our relationship with our dad, we can rejoice that our heavenly Father is
perfect and loves us with "an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). That
love led Him to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. We can rest assured
that He will never let us down; He will never fail to meet our needs and
satisfy our deepest longings. And if we ask Him, He is also ready to help us
forgive all the hurts that have been done to us. In cases like Sierra's, he can
help us rebuild that father-daughter relationship so that buying a Father's Day
card is a lot easier.
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1
(Read
Lot's story in the Bible: Genesis 19:6-8, Genesis 19:30-38)
This
devotion is adapted from The
One Year Women of the Bible with permission. (Tyndale House) © 2010
Dianne Neal Matthews
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