(Luke 11:11-12)
Fatherhood is a BLESSING.
It is also a RESPONSIBILITY.
There are expectations placed on you as a Father, the main one is PROVISION: it is expected of you as a Father to PROVIDE for your children.
Provide what exactly? Everything your children need to live a good life: food, clothing, accommodation, education, HealthCare, etc.
Jesus gave a parable to buttress the expectation of Fathers in the above mentioned Scripture.
“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:11-12).
What did Jesus mean by this?
What Jesus invariably said is, your Earthly Father should NOT give you STONE when you ask for BREAD, or give you a SERPENT when you ask for FISH or give you a SCORPION when you ask for an EGG! So, what’s he expected to do?
He’s expected to give you BREAD when you ask for BREAD, give you FISH when you ask for FISH & give you an EGG when you ask for an EGG.
Now, the question is, is that OUR Reality? No!
It actually takes a RESPONSIBLE FATHER to do these things. Jesus made that submission on the ASSUMPTION that all fathers are responsible.
We all KNOW fathers who are not- for some of us, it’s our own fathers, not another person’s. It’s OUR experience, OUR reality.
Your school fees are outstanding & your dad is NOT concerned. He makes some money, he goes to the beer parlour & gets drunk! Your mother somehow raises the money to pay the school fees.
The house rent is due & your dad is not bothered about it. The Landlord gives 2 months’ quit notice. Dad is just spending the money he has on booze & sports betting, hoping to get lucky & win millions. Or he is believing one Destiny Helper will come from somewhere to help him solve all his financial problems.
And while he is indulging in this wishful thinking, Mum ekes out something from her petty business to give the landlord.
Not all fathers are responsible.
Not all fathers give bread when the son asks for bread.
And not all fathers will give stone to the son who asked for bread.
Some won’t give ANYTHING!
They won’t give the bread asked for, they won’t give stone or any alternative either.
Because they’re just IRRESPONSIBLE Fathers!
If we were unlucky to have such men as our Earthly Fathers, we MUST resolve NOT to be such fathers to our children.
Fathers’ actions, attitudes & approach to life ALWAYS have an effect on their children.
Sometimes they make us come out EXACTLY like them.
Sometimes they make us come out the exact OPPOSITE!
A chain smoker’s son may emulate his father and become a chain smoker too- or he becomes the exact opposite- he runs away from cigarettes! When that happens, it’s because he’s seen the effect of the habit on his father & does not want anything to do with it. So, the negative effect of the habit repulsed him to go in the opposite direction with his life.
The biggest influence on children are the parents, especially the FATHER.
A man who has 3 daughters complained to me that none of them seemed to be interested in getting married- none has ever brought a man home. The daughters are aged 32, 29, 27. I met up with the eldest and told her about her father’s concerns.
Her response was shocking, to say the least. “Uncle Harry, I’d rather be single and happy than get married to a horrible man like my father and be miserable like my mother!” I could not tell her father he was the reason for his daughters’ seemingly lack of interest in men.
He had no idea he had been giving his children stones, serpents and scorpions when they wanted bread, fish and egg. He did not know his action and inaction were talking more than words.
The upside in that proverb is, Jesus made a distinct submission about our Heavenly Father, God Almighty in the next verse:
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? (Luke 11:13).
David wrote, “If my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take care of me!” (Psalm 27:10).
No matter what our experience with our earthly father is, Our Heavenly Father will NEVER leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
He said he has engraved us on his palm and our walls are continually before Him (Isaiah 49:16).
He said he has plans for us, plans of GOOD, not plans of EVIL, to give us a FUTURE and HOPE (Jeremiah 29:11).
We need to always remember these promises, especially when our earthly fathers disappoint us and fail to live up to his responsibilities.
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels