Don’t forget about Dad this coming Sunday! It’s a day for ties, cards and lots of red meat. I’m looking forward to being honored and appreciated by my own children... I can hardly wait! I know that days like Father’s Day brings a mix of emotions for many people. A few of us get showered with affection, honor and copious amounts of our favorite foods. Some of us will navigate the day with gratitude for our dads combined with a very real sadness that they’re no longer with us here on earth. Some will struggle through the difficult emotions of pain or disappointment brought about by our dads and their shortcomings. Others will feel the profound absence of fathers who were never present physically, spiritually, or emotionally. Still others will have to deal with the fact that their dreams or hopes of fatherhood were never realized. Some will mark the first Father’s Day without dad here to celebrate and embrace yet another new aspect of the grieving process.
This is the world we live in. We’re wise to remember the many different experiences of the people we love and serve as we celebrate and remember the fathers in our lives.
As I was reflecting on Father’s Day and all the different emotions that come with it, I was reminded of Paul’s words in First Corinthians 4:15-17: “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me. For this reason, I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.”
This has become a favorite passage of mine over the years. The guardian was a cross between a nanny and tutor/teacher. The guardian would help take care of the younger children and teach them in the basics of education. As a child matured, they would move out of the care of the guardian and begin to work alongside the parents in whatever the family trade might be: the carpenter’s son would work alongside him to learn the skills of carpentry. Guardians were good, but they only got you so far, you needed a father to teach you the family trade.
We live in a day and age when we have thousands of guardians in Christ: authors, speakers, podcasts, bible studies and the lists go on and on of individuals who help teach us the basics. That’s good, it’s certainly better than no guardians at all! But what we need are spiritual fathers (and mothers too) who will walk shoulder to shoulder with us and teach us the “family trade” of following Jesus. Paul was a spiritual father to Timothy and he sent Timothy to show the Corinthians the way of Christ.
That brings me to two important questions this week:
- Who has been a spiritual father (or mother) to you in your life with Christ? Who has shown you the way of Christ and walked with you to teach you how to follow Him?
- Who are you fathering spiritually? Who are you inviting to learn from you what it means to follow Jesus by walking closely with you?
These are some of the basic dynamics of making disciples of Jesus! A lot of us can point to someone who has been a spiritual father or mother to us. We can name a person or two who have shown us what it looks like to follow Jesus, who walked with us closely to teach us the way of Jesus.
Can you name who you’re fathering? Is there a person in your life that you’ve invited them to learn from you the way of Jesus?
We live in a world of a thousand guardians but not many fathers. Who can you be a father to? Who do you need to invite into your life to “imitate me as I imitate Christ”?
Celebrate dad this weekend. Fire up the grill or do whatever you do to honor the dads in your life. Take some time also to celebrate the spiritual fathers and mothers who have poured into you to help you follow in the way of Jesus. Take some time to examine your own life as well. Who are you fathering in Christ? Who are you investing in for the sake of their followership of Jesus? Who needs you to be a spiritual parent in the months ahead?
Christ’s Peace,
Lance
CGGC eNews—Vol. 15, No. 25
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