The term mentor has been rattling around in my head. We all need someone in our lives who is willing to lovingly lead us. We all need someone who has been there and willing to invest in us. We need that person who is interested in taking us on a journey of experience and breathing life into us through these experiences.
Paul understood the importance of mentors in our lives and discipleship journeys. He invested significant time and energy in those he mentored. In 1 Timothy, Paul shows us the personal and intimate nature of the relationships with those he mentors. He refers to Timothy as "my true son in the faith." He views this relationship like a father would have with a child.
Father's want the best for their kids. It is a father's responsibility to lead his family. It is his responsibility to show them how a husband loves his wife. A father wants to share his knowledge with his kids so they benefit from his wisdom. Father's play a pivotal role in their children's lives and development.
As we head into Father's Day, I first want to thank all the Dads who choose to be present and purposeful in their kids lives. Those relationships they have with their kids are the same relationships Paul had in mind when he called Timothy his son. Secondly, I challenge Christian men to accept the responsibility of leading our homes and raising our children. Our world needs us to be present and to speak life into our children. Finally, I want to speak to those men who don't have children. Our world desperately needs you. We need good Christian men who are willing to show a father's love to children who don't have a father. I'm asking you to be a father to the fatherless.
James 1:27 says " Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Too many children have been orphaned by absent fathers. As Christian men, we must be a part of the solution. If you aren't a father, or even if you are, I encourage you to step up and step in. Find a place to be a father figure. It may simply be in your home and with your own kids. It may be by volunteering to be a youth sports coach or becoming a foster parent. Maybe it's by choosing to mentor your kid's friend who has an absent father. Or maybe it is a call to reach out to His Father's House who meet at Westside Christian Church on Friday would love to talk to you. Wherever it is, men step up and be Fathers.
Happy Father's Day!
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt
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