Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Men are you a spiritual father? Does your family and friends, the people you meet know that you are a Christian and that the Lord is the center of your life? If we want our children or anyone for that matter to be lead toward Christ, we must be able, like Paul to say, “Watch me.”
In life we are either becoming more like Christ daily or less like him. We must develop a range of Godly habits, core disciplines, like prayer and Bible reading. Character formation, developing wisdom, participating in service and hospitality, evangelism, and self-reflection are among the many things we should strive for. Above all, we must daily learn to trust and obey God in all our roles and circumstances.
This is hard, and we must set aside time and save our energy to attend to these disciplines. We must also be in fellowship with mature Christians that we can imitate, study with, and pray with. Your children and family needs to see you reading Scripture and hear you pray.
The world we live in is broken and many of us grew up in broken and dysfunctional families. If you as a man are living in sin, find a way through prayer and the help of family or the church to stop. If you look at pornography or participate in other sinful and dangerous behavior, stop and repent. Secret sins do not remain secret for long and will result in disgrace and shame for you and your family. You must be above reproach!
Most importantly, men, we must be Godly husbands and love our wives like Christ loved he church. We must lead or wives into holiness and pray for them and with them. How we love our wives is a powerful example to our children and all those around us. We must exhibit hope, faithfulness, be good teachers, be reliable, be positive, and be people of action. We must be attentive to our wives and children. After our Lord Christ Jesus, they are our priority in this life.
A mature Christian husband will not express his leadership with childish, prideful bullying or one-sided decision-making. He will always seek out both the wisdom and desires of his wife (and family). Learn to take the initiative when necessary and not always be passive. Take a stand for what is right and honorable. Resolve always to seek the Lord’s guidance and the Holy Spirits discernment in your life.
Our goal as Spiritual Father is to lead others to follow and glorify Christ. Our attitude and lifestyle should be distinctive in the fallen world around us. By God’s grace we can be optimistic, intense, yet self-controlled, resilient under criticism, and energetic. We should be deep, hard thinkers, capable of articulating and teaching, tactful and theologically oriented. We must be dreamers always looking to the future in which Christ will reign and we can worship at his feet!