Modern culture has created a mold for today’s fathers and mothers, and too many are allowing themselves to be poured right into it. Fathers are often depicted (because this is what is wanted and expected of them) as incompetent, blundering, brainless idiots, who wouldn’t have a clue how to raise a child even on a video game. That is, of course, if the father is even in the picture. Mothers are depicted variously but oftentimes they are portrayed as naïve, disconnected, can’t-be-bothered, self-aggrandizing, father-deriding, bring-me-another-drink floozies. In general, parents have been maligned as a bunch of dunces and the children are running the show. And, of course, any parent who attempts to step out of that mold and take on an actual parental role is scoffed and hurried back to their den of degradation.
Fathers, it is time to be fathers, as God intended! God’s fathers are like Noah, who raised his sons to be different from the world! God’s fathers are like Lot, who protected his daughters from immoral influences! God’s fathers are like Abraham, who showed what it means to trust in God! God’s fathers are like Job, who interceded to God on behalf of his children! God’s fathers are like Zacharias, who raised his son to put others before himself! God’s fathers are like Joseph, who raised his son to be concerned primarily with God’s business! What we see in these fathers is what God intended for fathers to be. A father is charged to bring his children “up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4), which includes deliberate teaching (2 Tim. 2:2) and appropriate discipline (Heb. 12:7-10). Fathers, it is time!
Mothers, it is time to be mothers, as God intended! God’s mothers are like Hannah, who raised her son to be a servant of God! God’s mothers are like Jochebed, who protected her child from the evils of men! God’s mothers are like the widow of Zarephath, who gave to God before giving to self! God’s mothers are like the Canaanite woman, who unrelentingly pleaded with the Lord on behalf of her daughter! God’s mothers are like Mary, who never gave up on her unbelieving children! God’s mothers are like Eunice, who ensured her child had a faith of his own! A mother is to be “discreet, chaste” and a “worker at home” (Tit. 2:5), tenderly “taking care of her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7), and “watching over the ways of her household” to provide for them day and night (Prov. 31:14-21, 25-28). Mothers, it is time!
Modern culture has completely hijacked and perverted what God designed the home to be! Whether it is popular or not, whether it fits the mold or not, we must go back to God’s design and be the fathers and the mothers that God designed us to be! It is time!