Pastor's Corner: Father's Day encouragement

With Father's Day coming up in two days, I would like to encourage fathers with several verses of scripture and then close this article with a personal story illustrating the point that we, as fathers, need to always be striving to be better fathers, allowing God to speak to us through everyday life conversations and experiences.

Psalm 103:13: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." When we think of a father, is the first word that comes to our minds the word "compassion?" I don't think so. Words that come to my mind are: "faithful," "reliable," "trustworthy," "provider," and "hard-working." A case can be made in scripture for each one of these attributes, and yet – where does this "compassion" fit in? This scripture tells us that the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. This "fear" should be defined as a reverent respect for. As such, children should have a reverent respect for their father. Why? Partially because of the father's compassion for them. Which comes first, the compassion from the father or the reverent respect from the children? Without a doubt, the compassion of the father shows up first.

Luke 15:20: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." This scripture comes from a very familiar story in the Bible – "The Prodigal Son." As you may recall from the story, this father has two sons, and one of them decides that he wants his inheritance early (before his father has passed away). The father gives it to him, and that son proceeds to waste his inheritance in riotous living. ... He runs out of money and runs out of "friends." Eventually, as he's eating out of a trough with pigs, he comes to his senses and decides to go home and ask his father to receive him back as a servant, knowing that his father treats servants better than the son is presently being treated. He goes back home to make this request and our scripture reveals to us how the father responds to his son – with welcome, with compassion, with demonstrated affection – and, instead of receiving his son as a servant, the father restores him as a son! Wow! What a picture of a compassionate father!

2 Samuel 7:14-15: "I will be a father to him, and he'll be a son to me. When he does wrong, I'll discipline him in the usual ways, the pitfalls and obstacles of this mortal life. But I'll never remove my gracious love from him." In these two scriptures God is telling King David how He will treat David's son, Solomon. There will be a father-son relationship. God tells David that he will discipline his son, Solomon, but that He will never remove His gracious love from him. I think that we as fathers can be encouraged from these scriptures to discipline our children as needed, but always to love them with grace - never withholding love from our children.

Ephesians 6:4: "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." And then, as we discipline our children, not withholding love from them - we , as fathers, are encouraged to not provoke our children to anger. This is not always easy for us, especially those of us dads who have a tendency to be agitators. I know that I fit this description because when my oldest daughter (known in Havre as Mrs. Stoll, the high school choir teacher) was only 3 years old, she already knew the word "agitator" and knew that I, her dad, was one!

And now for my personal story. My youngest son's birthday was on May 24th, He turned 27 years old. He lives with us presently, so we were planning to celebrate his birthday with him at our house. I had a "Grief Share" obligation on that night, so we made our plans for Thursday, May 26th. My problem that morning was that I realized that I had double-booked myself for that night. Our church's leadership team was meeting that night and I was supposed to celebrate our son's birthday that night. As I broke this news to my son and my wife at breakfast that morning, his response was, "Dad, just contact those leaders and cancel your meeting, letting them know that you're celebrating your son's birthday with your family." I did not respond right then to my son's outburst. I went back in my room and continued on with my morning devotions and scripture readings. As I was doing that, I felt like God was speaking to me, saying, "Curt, what are you gonna do with that? How are you going to respond to your son?" I didn't know how to respond or it I should respond, so I spent some time praying and asking God to guide me. Eventually I texted all of my leaders and said that we would meet at 7 p.m. that night, but that I would be leaving the meeting at 8 p.m., no matter what, to celebrate my son's birthday with him and my wife. I also forwarded that text to my son and my wife, and they both applauded my effort. I was reminded that day that I sometimes prioritize my role as a pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church over my role as father and husband not good! So, little by little I am learning how to be a better father – a more compassionate dad. So dads, let me encourage us to always be striving to be better fathers, allowing God to speak to us through everyday life conversations and experiences. Amen? Amen!

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Written by the Rev. Edroy "Curt" Curtis, president of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association; chaplain of Northern Montana Health Care, and lead pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church.