Instruction of a father

Instruction of a father

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding (Pro.4:1).

The instruction of a father should be heeded to. Who is a father to you? This does not refer necessarily to your biological father. This refers to an ideal father who has all the attributes of a father in Christ Jesus. According to the standards of righteousness in the Word of God, there is a father for you. He is a model father after the heart of God.

This father does not allow you to live in sin. This father does not allow you to lead a life without any purpose. This father does not allow you to divorce your wife or to forsake your children. This father does not allow you to remarry another spouse after divorce if you have divorced your spouse. This father exhorts you to get yourself reconciled with your vagabond spouse. This father does not allow you to permit your son or your daughter to roam about with his girlfriend or boyfriend, as the case may be. This father does not allow you to permit your son to date some boy or girl. He scolds us and speaks about judgment when we commit a sin. This father does not allow you to spend your precious time before your television or in a movie theater. This father does not allow you to misappropriate the funds of the church or your employer. My father has instruction to give me. He instructs me on how to live in this world, how to behave in the church, how to behave in my office, and how to lead my family life -how to treat my wife and children.

Paul was a spiritual father to Titus whom he called "my own son after the common faith" (Titus 1:4).

In this verse, King Solomon exhorted the children to hear the instruction of a father and to attend to know understanding. Who are the children? The children of God saved through the Blood of Jesus Christ have not become disciples of Jesus Christ but are still children in the sight of God. As children, they ought to hear the instruction of a father. There should not be many fathers. Of course, there can be many teachers to teach them. Paul said in I Cor.4:15 that though the Corinthians had ten thousand instructors in Christ Jesus, yet they had not many fathers.

Every child of God should have only one spiritual father to nurtur him/her in the Word.

A pastor cannot be a father to him/her unless the former has the heart of a father. Similarly, a minister of God like apostle, prophet, evangelist or teacher cannot take the place of a father if he does not have the heart of a father towards the sheep of the Lord . Thesedays, we find a child of God surrounded by all these ministers. Of course, a pastor or a prophet or an apostle can be a father to some child of God. In other words, a pastor or an apostolic minister who has the heart of a father can definitely be a father to some child of God. Paul was a father to the churches planted by him. An evangelist who preaches the gospel to the multitudes cannot become a father to all of them. An apostolic minister who plants the churches cannot be a father to all the sheep. Like Paul to Titus, he can be a father to some of the sheep only who are mostly his co-workers.

Dear child of God, if you desire to attend to know understanding of the Word of God or of the spiritual life you are supposed to lead, you should hear your spiritual father.

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