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Honoring Fathers
Brian Mashburn
June 15, 2014
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Honor Your Father
Dads matter. All of us should honor that.
When all is said and done, all of us have two powerful resources - capacities, if you will - to honor our fathers.
The first one is gratitude. When dads provide for us, we should be grateful. When dads encourage us, whether by word or deed, we should be grateful. Whatever is good, praiseworthy, loving, and intended for our well-being that has come to us from our dads, the way to honor that is with gratitude. We should allow ourselves to be filled with profound gratitude and follow that up with whatever actions that demands of us. Do this, and you will be honoring your father.
The second one is forgiveness. When dads fail us, we should be forgiving. When dads hurt us, whether by word or deed (or the lack of either), we should be forgiving. Not only does this honor the weight of fatherhood, but it frees us from their mistakes, and thereby frees them. After all, our father's failures are guaranteed, and rightly so, because they leave us longing for a perfect dad, which can only be satisfied in our heavenly One. We should allow ourselves to be filled with profound forgiveness and follow that up with whatever actions that demands of us. Do this, and you will be honoring your father.
And trust me, you want to honor you father. Why? Paul explains in Ephesians 6 - "'Honor your father and mother'-which is the first commandment with a promise- 'that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.'"
I got to sit with my dad two weeks ago in Houston. It was the first time I thanked him with effortless forgiveness. Paul was right: it was "well" with me, and I "enjoyed" it, and it was "life".