The special bond between father and son is the focus today. The New Testament begins with Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 “This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham” (NLT) and goes on for 16 verses listing out each father and each son in the lineage of Jesus. Then in Matthew 3:17 our Heavenly Father speaks of His Son, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” (NLT)
As much as any of us may claim to know about the father/son relationship and its significance, we cannot even truly comprehend the depth that God has ordained upon the father/son relationship, and the far-reaching all-pervasive purpose and influence it has upon each person, indeed upon humanity. Every person has a history, intimately tied to how they were conceived, by which mother and by which father, and the story of that mother and that father, how they were affected by their own generations of mothers and fathers leading up to the event of their first meeting, then the event of conception, the event of the child’s birth, and all the events that follow.
Human existence, human development, human striving, and the whole sum of the human experience on earth can be categorized by the ongoing health or deterioration of the father/son relationship. The effects of healthy father/son relationships extend far beyond the relationship itself, far beyond the benefits to the father and mother, to the family, friends, and local community. The implications of paternal bonds extend nationally, even globally. Likewise, the effects of an unhealthy father/son relationship, whether distorted, toxic, passive, abusive, neglectful, or nonexistent, also has far-reaching effects, not only to the father and son, but also to the mother, the family, friends, community, and even to the nations of the world. Consider the many flavors of horrific news we hear from around the world on a daily basis, as well as the many heroic acts of sacrificial love than can be readily found if one only looks for it. Such examples can have a profound impact on an individual, and the prevalence of examples that proliferate one’s social sphere will undoubtedly have an effect, whether good or bad.
Both the good and the bad are rooted in the complex interpersonal politics among both men and women, that either diminishes or elevates the healthy role of fathers in society. Make no mistake, the existence of healthy father/son relationships depends not only on the fathers and sons themselves. Even when both father and son are willing, their relationship can be literally or effectively destroyed by other people or influences, or replaced by counterfeit surrogates masquerading as fatherly love, while usurping the true fatherly connection, resulting in warped, distorted, and harmful effects. The nature of the father’s heart is to care for, provide for, protect, and preserve his loved ones, his family, his wife and children, and to pass on this legacy on to his son(s), to teach them and show them by example how to do the same. When this honorable purpose of fathers is thwarted, we see chaos take hold.
How can the world be so full of accusations, blaming, criticism, social shaming, and put downs of decent honorable people on the one hand, and at the same time so full of corrupt government officials, rampant child sex trafficking and human slavery, oppressive human and civil rights violations, and the destruction of the nuclear family in our very own country, sadly enabled by the heralded policies of the mainstream? How is it that so many egregious actions are being committed by both men and women? This is only possible through the erosion of the role of fathers in our society.
The good news is that there is an uprising of faithful men, women, and youths who have seen the true carnage beyond the façade of modern-day political correctness, and are no longer willing to stand on the sidelines of the battle for our future. They are the ones who have internalized the value and meaning of fatherly love revealed to us by our Heavenly Father, through His word, example, and written promises. They are the ones who have come to understand that this is a spiritual battle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the high places (Ephesians 6:12). There is a reason why there is an inordinate separation of children from their fathers by CPS and divorce. There is a reason why men have been ridiculed, slandered, and emasculated on false premises. There is a reason why other men have been lured into sexual wickedness, perversion, and committing abuse, often the same abuse they themselves suffered. It is because there exists an enemy of our souls, he that detests the glorious goodness of our Heavenly Father, and this enemy is a shrewd world political orchestrator seeking to kill, steal, and destroy every semblance of decency and honor, to try to reign over us with the sheer force of his oppressive will.
Does the world and all of its insanity seem oppressive to you these days? It is because the enemy of our souls has been allowed free reign for far too long. As more and more people are waking up to the spiritual battle at hand, this counterfeit father of lies will be relegated to the lowly place reserved for his despicable deeds, for all the harm, chaos, torture and destruction he has waged on the souls of humankind.
How will this be? How can we be so sure? What evidence do these faithful men, women and youths have that they should rise up boldly with hope? It is the testimony and the legacy of the man Jesus Christ, who walked this earth to testify in His own words, of the glorious loving Heavenly Father who sent him, who established through His beloved Son the honor and victory over sin, death, and hell. What a glorious legacy from a father to a son! Those who have read this testimony and have opened our eyes to the gift of salvation from our own moral corruptness, we rejoice that indeed Jesus has already won the battle. Through His strength, earthly fathers are equipped to build the specific legacy bestowed upon each of them, bestowed upon each man individually, and in turn to teach and pass along a winning legacy to their sons as they grow to be fathers themselves.
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