a father's heart
Reading in Luke this morning. I'm not sure why, some of my earliest memories in Bible study are of being bored to death by the book of Luke, and conspiring to get the sunday school teacher off track so we wouldn't have to read it. But hey, here i am reading it anyway.
1:17 talks about John the baptist coming as the new Elijah, and I have never seen these words before, "to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children."
What is that about? It's actually a quote from Malachi that says the exact same thing.
I know that being a parent is important, and it is right and just to be a father concerned about your children. But at the same time the world we live in doesn't make it easy to be a dad. At least, a good dad. How do I know if my heart is turned away from my family?
There is a tension between the "world outside" the home and the world inside. And which is right and proper? It's like any time I take to pursue career, I am robbing my household. But when I shift the pendulum the other way, I am a slacker. On the one hand I dishonor God by not turning enough toward my family, but on the other hand I dishonor God by not devoting enough attention to his church. And yet so far, it seems that he wants both from me. Who is equal to such a task?
I wonder what the state of the family was in Bible times that would prompt a prophet of God, God's mouthpiece to his generation, to comment on it. What were father's doing if their hearts were far from their children? Pursuing career? Outside interests? Hobbies?
John was the forerunner - the one who was to make "straight paths" for Christ. You would think that he was to heal people, preach repentance, all that stuff. That his job description includes repairing the family, most notably the father's attitude toward the family, well that just gives fatherhood a prominent place in the church, doesn't it?
There must be something to this whole GenX dads thing. I read an article about how GenX dads are cutting back at work, downsizing in order to be home more with their families. Sociologically compensating for their own absent fathers. I see it on TV and in some movies, that idea that growing up and being a parent is what we have to do is being accepted more and more. Dare I say it - being a good dad is almost fashionable:) Who'd have thunk it.
I got a "world's greatest Dad" t-shirt for father's day. I always thought guys who wore those things were dorks. Like, "come on buddy, you're family is obligated to get one of those things for you, it doesn't mean anything." You know, I didn't feel like a dork when I got it, I actually felt something a little different. I felt, well - pride. Now, who'd have thunk that!
Maybe God really is calling us to be the "world's greatest dads." Maybe that's been his plan from the beginning, we just got bored and started trying to find other things to occupy ourselves. Maybe part of turning our hearts to Christ involves turning them also back to our children.
1:17 talks about John the baptist coming as the new Elijah, and I have never seen these words before, "to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children."
What is that about? It's actually a quote from Malachi that says the exact same thing.
I know that being a parent is important, and it is right and just to be a father concerned about your children. But at the same time the world we live in doesn't make it easy to be a dad. At least, a good dad. How do I know if my heart is turned away from my family?
There is a tension between the "world outside" the home and the world inside. And which is right and proper? It's like any time I take to pursue career, I am robbing my household. But when I shift the pendulum the other way, I am a slacker. On the one hand I dishonor God by not turning enough toward my family, but on the other hand I dishonor God by not devoting enough attention to his church. And yet so far, it seems that he wants both from me. Who is equal to such a task?
I wonder what the state of the family was in Bible times that would prompt a prophet of God, God's mouthpiece to his generation, to comment on it. What were father's doing if their hearts were far from their children? Pursuing career? Outside interests? Hobbies?
John was the forerunner - the one who was to make "straight paths" for Christ. You would think that he was to heal people, preach repentance, all that stuff. That his job description includes repairing the family, most notably the father's attitude toward the family, well that just gives fatherhood a prominent place in the church, doesn't it?
There must be something to this whole GenX dads thing. I read an article about how GenX dads are cutting back at work, downsizing in order to be home more with their families. Sociologically compensating for their own absent fathers. I see it on TV and in some movies, that idea that growing up and being a parent is what we have to do is being accepted more and more. Dare I say it - being a good dad is almost fashionable:) Who'd have thunk it.
I got a "world's greatest Dad" t-shirt for father's day. I always thought guys who wore those things were dorks. Like, "come on buddy, you're family is obligated to get one of those things for you, it doesn't mean anything." You know, I didn't feel like a dork when I got it, I actually felt something a little different. I felt, well - pride. Now, who'd have thunk that!
Maybe God really is calling us to be the "world's greatest dads." Maybe that's been his plan from the beginning, we just got bored and started trying to find other things to occupy ourselves. Maybe part of turning our hearts to Christ involves turning them also back to our children.
posted by Jeff at 8:58 AM
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