I came across this story and found it very strong in meaning and message. We must be very weary of how we come across to our children and to others. We are watched and judged and our children catch everything we do and say and how we act. Let us be mindful and be the best that we can be in their eyes and in our Father Gods.
Playing Catch With Daddy
There was a young man who liked reading, in fact, he had a spot by his office window where he liked to sit in the morning and read as the sunshine came streaming in. The one book he read there every morning was his Bible. He wanted to make sure he got his time with Jesus right at the top of the day. But this particular day was particularly unforgettable because as he opened his eyes from praying, there was a little chair next to his big chair and his precious two-year-old daughter was there reading (well, as much reading as a two-year-old can do) a book. It was her toddler's Bible, and there was her melted daddy all over the floor.
Did you know children are playing "catch" with their dads all the time? They spend their lives catching how we live, catching how we talk, catching our ways of responding, and catching our walk with God or lack thereof. Faith is contagious. So is apathy.
The spiritual responsibility of the man of the house is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, starting with the very first man. After Eve violated the restrictions God gave Adam regarding the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, God didn't come looking for Eve. He walked the garden, calling, "Where are you, Adam?" Genesis 3:9. It was clear the buck stopped with the man. When aging Sarah laughed at God's promise that she and Abraham would have a child in their old age, guess who God asked about why she didn't believe? He didn't ask Sarah. He asked Abraham as if He was saying, "You mean after all these years around you, she doesn't have any more faith than that?" By New Testament times, God identifies the man as the Christ-figure of the home, responsible to lead the home by loving his wife with the same kind of sacrificing love that Jesus showed us.
God defies our culture's cop-out misconception that the man is just the physical provider while the spiritual provider of the home is the woman. Ephesians 6:4 shows us what the manufacturer's manual says about how the family is designed to run: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Dad, you're God's designated spiritual coach for your son or your daughter. He's counting on you to "instruct" them; to regularly explain God's love and God's ways to them. And He's expecting you to "train" them it says, to show them by your life what God is like, and to model for them a consistent, powerful relationship with Him. How are you doing, Coach?
Just look at your children and you may very well be looking into a mirror of the vitality and reality of your own relationship with Jesus Christ. If you're cool or cold toward God, you'll probably see it in them. If you're excited about God, about His Word, about His work, you'll probably see it in them. If you're negative and critical spiritually and they hear a lot about what's wrong with Christians, don't be surprised if they don't want much to do with Jesus. If your actions contradict your Christian words, it will be hard for them to think of Jesus as very real. If they see you responding to problems by trusting God in prayer, that's what they'll learn to do. And if they see you seeking your Lord regularly in the Bible, you may even find them next to you one day, seeking Him, too.
If you're like most of us guys, you don't like to do things you don't feel secure doing, and you may not feel secure trying to step up to spiritual leadership at home. You're afraid you'll fail. But you know, the only way you can really fail is if you don't do it. You won't nag your son or daughter into loving and following Jesus. You won't legislate them into it. Children learn what they live. Make sure as they live with you, that they're living with a walking, talking example of a man who's just in love with Jesus.
One other thing children mimic is how we live, what kind of work ethic we have. There is a terrible cycle going on in this world and its called welfare. Good sturdy men sitting around who are very capable of working are being watched by their children and doing the same thing. Letting others take care of them is being very lazy, and slothful. Sloth is a sin, not doing a good days work and showing effort is being lazy in the eyes of God.
The other role of the man of the house is to be the provider, the protector of the family. And when a man cant provide, what is he showing his children?
In Matthew 20 we see this scripture: Matthew 20:6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
God does not like idle people, now this isn't just speaking about doing God's work, spreading the word as this parable speaks about, but it also means working with our hands, by the sweat of our brow, putting food on the table, proving to God that how we live and work is a testament to Him. When we are lazy, we shame God. God created us to work. When He placed Adam in the garden it was to work the garden, to produce, not to be lazy and sit back.
Proverbs 19:15 says: Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
The meaning here is very plain, if you don't work you don't eat, it's that simple. Being slothful or lazy Proverbs 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
The sluggard is the hibitually lazy person. He is admonished to learn two important lessons from the ant: (1) the ant has no guide, overseer, or ruler (see verse 7), meaning that the ant does not have to have a taskmaster standing over it to make it work; it is a self-starter. (2) the ant is wise enough to prepare for predictable circumstances (see verse 8). Two questions about sleep are poised to the sluggard (see verse 9). His answer is given in verse 10: "Just a little bit more sleep!" The result of such laziness is dire poverty, which will come as suddenly and decisively as a robber (see verse 11).
Also in Proverbs 10:4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand (negligent): but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Again what we see here is you fail to work and be productive you become negligent in your duty to God by being productive, providing for your family, being the husbandman of your household.
Ecclesiastes 10:18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
Again laziness causes neglect to your home, causing the house to fall, to leak. If you have no money to fix your home, it falls into disrepair and becomes a hazzard to live in and a danger to your children . Proverbs 24:30-31 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vinyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
The Slothful is too lazy to keep thorns and nettles out of his vineyard or to keep his stone wall repaired. His laziness is further exhibited in sleeping late when he should be working. Therefore, his poverty will come as one that traveleth; that is, a vagabond or bandit. Your poverty will prevail if you refuse to repair your home, to keep strong your family. Work is needed in order to please God and show him your worth.
Ecclesiastes 3:13 And also that evey man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. this also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more that I? For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
This passage gives one of the solutions to life's problems: enjoy life and work as God's gifts. When a man toils in his own strength, he is bound to suffer pain and grief. The answer then is for him to enjoy his work by receiving it as a gift of God. Elsewhere, work is said to be part of God's curse on man (Genesis 3:17-19), but it can become the sphere of God's blessing.
People who refuse to work are always crying poor me, I have no money to feed, clothe, house, myself or my family. O sluggard you are, get up and get out and find work to feed thyself and thy family. If we refuse to work and do physical labor we offend God who gives us the gift of life and the abilities to work so we can feed, clothe, and house ourselves. The ant was given this ability by God, the ant does not depend on anyone to feed it or house it, it does not wait for someone to hand him food to survive, it goes and looks for it, the way God intended it to. Why should we be any different.
The ant works constantly to make sure there is enough food which is kept in store for lean months. We should take heed and learn from the ant. Again, what this is saying, you don't work, you don't eat, you starve.
We cant wait for some one to offer us work, we have to go look for it, we have to show God we are making an effort to be productive people, not only spiritually but physically.
I know a man who has had both hips replaced at least three times in his life, he cant drive, but he does walk, and walk he does all around his neighborhood asking his neighbors if they need work done around the house. He fixes things, he does carpentry work, cleans out their attics or basements or back yards and he gets paid for doing it. He has three children, no wife, and he puts food on the table and a roof over their heads. He is showing his children a good work ethic and how to be a good Christian by helping others. He could very well sit back and let the state send him checks and he do nothing for it. But he knows that God hates idleness and sloth and so he does his part to please God.
Do you want to show God how productive you can be in both areas? Lets play catch with our children and show them how we are to live for God.