Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17 (NLT) Abba is the source of all blessings, and he designed things so that blessings should flow from him through earthly fathers to their families, if everything is working as it should.

As if accurately modeling Christ’s love to our wives were not daunting enough, fathers are charged to be representatives of Father God to their children, too.

Good fathers provide their children with a first idea of Abba’s character and love.

Jesus perfectly represented his Father to us, and we must do the best we can for our children.

Because of the poor job done by many human fathers, our heavenly Father has a public relations problem. I remember praying with one woman who had experienced terrible things at the hands of an abusive step-father. When she contemplated praying directly to Father God, it scared her. She had a very poor impression of a God who would allow such things to happen to her. That poisonous image of her loving Abba etched in her heart by a man who failed in his charge of properly representing Father God kept her from having a loving relationship with Abba for many years. Thankfully, Jesus set her free from all that, and she eventually came to trust her Abba. Conversely, when a father properly models Father’s heart to his children, it gives them a tremendous advantage.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3 (NASB95)

Knowing Abba is our ultimate quest and modeling Abba as a good father is perhaps the greatest role available to a man.

Below I have listed some ways we can properly represent Abba to our children. But first, let’s meditate on the following passage from Ephesians.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV)  

 Fathers lavish kindness and love on their children and delight in them.

The “Parable of the Prodigal Son” is a great example. Many think that story should be entitled “The Parable of the Prodigal Father” instead. To be prodigal means to spend lavishly or wastefully. We learn from this parable that…

Fathers are to lavish love and attention on their children, even when they do not respond in kind. In other words, a Father’s love is unconditional.

Abba loved us even when we were his enemies. If we did not receive this kind of love from our own dads, we must ask Abba to teach us how to give away to our children what we did not receive. 

In order to love like this, we must first receive Abba’s love.

One of the worst things we can do is to model to our children the idea that Father God is indifferent and distant from us. We must choose to properly give away a father’s love so that children gain the proper idea that God wants them around and is vitally interested in the details of their lives. Perhaps the proper word to describe all this is “delight.”

One of the great revelations in life is when we find out that Abba actually likes us, as well as loves us.

Children know when they are merely tolerated. When parents show more affection for one child than another, it communicates a rather covert form of rejection. This was true in the case of Joseph and his brothers. Jacob’s obvious preference for Joseph stirred them to jealousy and hatred. It is only natural for a fathers to get along better with some children due to personalities, but we should be careful to do our best to delight in each child. We will not be able to do this for our children if we have not come to understand that Abba delights in us.

We can only give away what we have received.

This puts a burden on every father to seek God for what we need to be for our children.

Abba spoke words of affirmation and delight over his Son.

But even as he spoke, a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” Matthew 17:5 (NLT) 

Delight does more to affirm our children than perhaps anything else we can do for them.

Read More