What a MEEK dad does - Volume 1 Issue 3

What a Dad Does

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

Provoke means to incite to anger or resentment.  Have I done that lately?  Do I habitually do it?  How can I bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord?  To really understand this passage we need to look all the way back to Eph. 5:25 – 6:3.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.

FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THEEARTH. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

Really let that sink in….Ask yourself, “How do I treat my wife?  Do I really lay my life down for her?  How do I treat her in front of the children?  Do I show her affection (especially in front of the children)?  Am I tender?  Besides that, am I honoring my Father and Mother? Am I modeling the behavior I want my sons and daughters to walk in with my parents?  Perhaps the best way for them to learn to honor their mother is for me to demonstrate honor to my their mother and my parents.  When I come home from work at night do I bless my wife in front of the children?  Do they hear me praising their mother?  Am I critical of her in front of them, even a little bit?”

I found as our nine children were growing up that there was a direct correlation between my respect and encouragement of Tina and the way the children treated her.  For years I would regularly tell them that I had an announcement to make.  Then I would announce, “I love your mother”.  When I found them back talking and disrespecting her, I would tell them they weren’t just being disrespectful to their mother, they were not respecting my wife. 

I’ve discovered that my children will only learn to respect authority as they see me acting humbly to those closest to me. 

This is what a meek dad does!