Father's Day

“Give a child a good mother, and any old stick will do for a father.” Reportedly those were the words of the great evangelist of the early 1900’s, Billy Sunday.  You may recall that he quit his job as a professional baseball player to begin preaching.

            Anyway, Mr. Sunday was seeking to emphasize the importance of motherhood, and we would all agree with him on that. But do you think he got it right?  Are fathers that unimportant?

            Yes, this coming Sunday is Father’s Day.  My column is not a shameless plug to get a better gift or more attention.  But I am sure of this. Fathers are of much greater importance than Mr. Sunday said.  There is a tremendous need for godly, loving dads in our world today.

            In a recent devotion I read, the author quoted from Ezekiel 22:30, “I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.” Here God says that He was looking for just one faithful man, but could not find one. At that time, in that place, there was no man who was living righteously among the wicked.

            I pray that would not be the case today where we are. But I do know this for a fact. There are not as many godly and righteous men around. So many of us put our hobbies, whatever they might be, ahead of our wives and children and church.  We work hard at our jobs, and I suppose we believe that should allow us to shirk other responsibilities. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

            God is calling for godly men to love and lead, both in their families and in their churches. God is calling us to be faithful in society, and to be examples to others.  God is looking for a few good men.

            Will you be one?