In Ephesians  6:4 the Apostle Paul wrote  ⁴Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 NLT  While I've tried to keep the focus on dads positive this week, I needed to point out something about Paul's instruction to dads.  He started with something for us NOT to do, before telling us what we need to do.  The what not to do is PROVOKE our children to anger by the way we treat them.  That's a strong word.

Why do you suppose Paul cautioned dads not to provoke our children to anger, but didn't say word one to moms about how to rear children?  My thought has always been that moms are more natural at parenting than dads, because God "wired" men and women differently.  We dads are more likely to expect "productivity" from our children than moms, and less likely to offer our love unconditionally.  Thus, Paul's pointed instruction to avoid provoking our children to anger by the way we treat them.

The good news in Paul's negative instruction is when we learn how to avoid provoking our children to anger, which involves treating them with love and respect, we have the greatest potential influence in our children's lives, especially when they are small, because we are charged with bringing them up in the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.  Dads, we need to read that and reread it!  Christian discipline and instruction is not the church's job, not the youth group's job, not the Christian school's job.  It is OUR job, and what an incredible job it is!  When we take that job as seriously as most of us take our paying vocations, we have the potential to change the world, and that is not an overstatement.  Our children ARE the next generation to rule, guide and develop the world.  We have been entrusted with shaping that future through our children.  While the statistics out there about how dads are doing can be scary,  you and I have the opportunity to change that one child at a time.  That's our charge today.  It doesn't matter how we've done to this point.  Today is a new day, and the future of the world depends in a major degree on Christian dads bringing up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, thank You for entrusting such a vital role to dads.  Empower us by the Holy Spirit to love our wives and to partner with them in bringing up the next generation in the You discipline and instruction to Your glory and praise.  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.