The most important stories fathers can be telling their children

By Dean Collins

Do you remember what your father told you? Some could spend hours relating talks with their father or his conversations they overheard. Maybe they listened in at the barbershop, the ball field, over a neighbor’s fence, or at church. Maybe theh heard some conversations not intended for their ears, but no one caught them eavesdropping. Maybe they argued with their father, at home or over the phone.

But there are others who never heard anything from their father. Some fathers die early. Some were never around. Some fathers struggle with communication. Some people never have an opportunity to meet or know their father.

‘Our fathers have told us’

The opening sentence of Psalm 44 led me to think about all of this: “O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old.”

Many verses in Scripture say directly or imply that fathers have a spiritual responsibility to pass faith in God down to their children and grandchildren. Early in Deuteronomy, for example, Moses gives lengthy instructions about what the Israelites were to tell to their children about the exodus in Egypt and of God’s deliverance into the Promised Land.

‘What happens if we fail?’

In Psalm 44 the psalmist suggests several important lessons to be passed down; each one confirms that God is our provider, protector, defender, and victory. The question that keeps coming to my mind is, “What happens if we don’t do our job passing down spiritual truth to our children and grandchildren? What if we fail to share how God saved us, helped us through difficult times, and provided for us when there was nothing left?”

I suspect we know the answer. In fact, we could look around our world today and see the aftermath of failing to pass along God’s truth. I think you’d agree there is ample evidence that millions of people around the world have not known and shared God’s love and his Word with their children. And sadly there are millions who shared a very narrow and angry view of God with their children.

N.T. Wright’s biography of the apostle Paul suggests that Paul’s father was likely the one who instilled in Saul/Paul the zeal that led him to seek out Christians and have them murdered because they were breaking from the Law by turning to Jesus. Even parents who choose to pass down religious instruction forget that sometimes we pass down our traditions, biases, and doctrinal preferences while failing actually to pass down the gospel.

Sometimes we pass down our traditions while failing actually to pass down the gospel.

While my father was a person of faith, he had lots of inner turmoil due to conflicts between what he believed to be true from Scripture and the visible failures in his own behavior and poor choices. Due to this and his frequent absence, I did not always hear some of the things he probably tried to say to me. While my father baptized me when I was in fifth grade, he was not my spiritual mentor. His own struggles prevented that

‘I am deeply grateful’

I am deeply grateful that early and often in different seasons of my life God provided godly men and women to fill in the gaps for me. These spiritual parents passed down wisdom from God and guidance for life that I otherwise would have missed. While not my biological parents, these men and women practiced what I think Moses, the psalmist, and others tell us in Scripture; we must tell the stories of what God has done in our lives and the lives of those who have gone before us.

Whether you have shared these stories of faith before doesn’t matter. What does matter is that from this day forward you give testimony to the things God has done.

What might happen in the next generation if we became better storytellers about the wonderful works of God in our lives and in history? Let’s find out.

Your time with God’s Word
Psalm‬ ‭44:1-3‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

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