<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written

John Bradshaw

A Father’s Love

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

Father's Day rolls around once every year.

It's a time when we celebrate our dads, or our grandfathers too for that matter.

And it's an opportunity to reflect on the blessing that fathers can be and are in our lives.

It's also an opportunity for fathers to reflect upon their role as fathers and what sort of father they are being as God's man here on this earth.

I have several guests with me today including my associate speaker at It Is Written, Pastor Eric Flickinger, Pastor Eve Monnier from It Is Written, and Dr.

Ron Smith who has a Doctor of ministry in counseling and a PhD in psychology.

Gentlemen, thanks very much for joining me today.

Take a moment to talk about the special role that is the role of a father.

What is it that fathers bring to a family or to a relationship, to the life of a child, that's unique.

I think it's important to note from the outset that there is a female as well as a male dimension of who God is, compositely.

But fathers have the opportunity to showcase before our children in a very real way, the image of God from the masculine side.

That side is pregnant with so many implications of positive thinking, assuming responsibility.

When you put it in those terms, that a father demonstrates to the child the characteristics of God.

That places pretty heavy responsibility on dads, doesn't it?

Absolutely, and on parents, but in this particular case, on fathers, absolutely.

Now, When we speak about fatherhood, I think it's key to realize that as we speak about the role of a father, the role of a father and the role of a mother overlaps an awful lot.

It's not always easy to draw a clean line between the 2.

We're going to do our best to speak to fathers and fatherhood today.

I should point out that I'm the father of 2 children.

I'm sure we have our share of successes and positive more than our fair share of failures.

1 of the things that you absolutely have to have is if you want to be a good father, is time to spend with your children.

Good relationships are built on time, whether it's between us and our children or us and our God.

Smith mentioned a moment ago, they get a pretty good idea of who God is from us.

If we don't spend time with them, they're going to get an idea that maybe God doesn't want to spend time with them either.

You're a pastor and a departmental director.

I'm a pastor and an evangelist, and I lead a ministry.

Smith, you're a church administrator with enormous responsibilities, but you're a pastor and an evangelist and a writer, and, and, and, and, and, so you're talking about spending time with children.

This is every parent's battle, or many parents' battle.

How in the world do you find enough time for your kids, especially when you're a very busy person?

And then let's talk about this thing about quality time and quantity time.

Well, John, what I discovered is that quality time comes with quantity.

There is no way on earth that you can get to the point of quality with your children if you have not invested that quantity time.

You asked the question, how do you take that time?

I had a wise elder who came to me, my children were young, he put his arm around me, and he said, listen to me very carefully, 1 day when you're old, if the Lord doesn't return before then, 1 day when you're old, you're not going to wish, oh, if only I had gone to 1 more board meeting.

If only I had gone to 1 more school board meeting.

If only I had done 1 more visit, he said, those will not be the if only's in your life.

That opened my eyes and I determined, this is my priority, my family.

What happens when you don't make that time?

You've, as a mentor to many, as a church leader, you've seen undoubtedly what happens when fathers don't take enough time for their kids.

So there's a dad now, he's listening to us talk, he's watching us and he's thinking, time.

But he's saying to himself, man, I'm busy and I've got this great career and that sucks up a lot of my time.

Because he didn't take enough time for his kids.

I think when we understand the importance of building our children into our routine, whatever that is, whether it's a heavy responsibility or a lighter responsibility, it could be very lonely to have a parental obligation and responsibility, and our children aren't engaged with us, and we aren't engaged with them.

By joining each other, the journey can be a fun 1 and a sweet 1.

As a father, what have you learned from your father?

Might be all good, might be all bad, might be a little of each.

What lessons did you learn from your dad?

Because the moment he would walk inside the threshold of the home, he was with us and he focused on us and never thought that he had any concerns, any burdens in his life.

Now later on, of course, as I became older and became a pastor, I realized, oh, my dad had a lot of worries, but he never let on, and I was very gracious on his part.

Number 2, my dad traveled a lot and I missed him.

And so I determined, you know, I'm not going to do this with my children.

He had a calling and I respected that calling and respect that calling, but I determined that I'm not going to be so often an absentee father.

So that's why I made a conscious decision for the time that my children are at home, living under the same roof, this will be the time that I will give to them.

My dad was an uncomplicated sort of a man from an uncomplicated background.

And I doubt that I could say my father was the perfect father or the perfect person.

But I learned a lot of what I learned about parenting from my dad, reflecting on my dad's role as a father in our family.

Some of the most helpful things I learned from my father, I've learned from the mistakes he made.

I mean maybe some of those smaller mistakes.

Rather than be embittered by the things my dad didn't get right, I've simply taken those on board and said, okay, I see what didn't work and I'm determining to, you know, not to perpetuate that, whatever that might have been.

But I believe that you can learn, if your eyes are open, you can learn a lot from the mistakes of the people that you've seen and that you've observed up close.

What I did learn from my father was religious commitment, commitment to God.

Now, my dad was of a faith that I am now not.

Back to Menu

A Father’s Love

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

History’s Most Hated Father

28m

The Faith of Desmond Doss

28m

Without This Animal You Will Die!

1h 14m

Star Wars

4. The Birth of the King

29m

Running the Race

28m

Darwinism On Trial

29m

Life and Longevity

28m

Time Well Spent

28m

Five Steps to Safeguard Your Health

28m

Raising Tech Safe Kids

2. How to Communicate with Kids Who Don’t Want to Talk

1h 16m

Designed With Purpose

It’s All About the Genes

29m

Grateful

28m

Sound Doctrine