Essays
It's Not Too Late To Change
IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO CHANGE
The apostle Paul exhorts fathers, saying, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the nurture & admonition of the Lord (Eph.6:4). What is it that fathers sometimes do (or don’t do) that tends to provoke anger among their children? Some dads are JUST TOO HARSH. Their approach is the opposite of that fatherly style described by Paul as, gentle, exhorting, encouraging and imploring (2Thess.2:7 & 11). Terry Pluto tells of ministering to men imprisoned who do not want to hear about the fatherhood of God (Mt.6:9). Many of them suffered at the hands of a cruel father - - I needed a pat on the back and I got a boot in the behind.
On the other hand, some dads are JUST TOO BUSY (inattentive). The famous historian Stephen Ambrose describes life in the shadow of a dad who was a medical doctor. His father came to every football game as a stand-by physician, but the Ambrose boys longed for a dad who was there to root for them. “If we wanted to ice-skate, we learned by ourselves. So, too, if we wanted to hunt or play basketball or football.” Fortunately for Stephen and his brothers, their father finally “came around”. Stephen’s papa wanted him to go to same college as he did and become a doctor as he did. In his sophomore year, to his father’s disappointment, Stephen decided to major in history. Eventually Dr. Ambrose became Stephen’s greatest supporter and biggest fan. Stephen writes, “In his own way, and without ever insisting upon it, he made me a historian, something I’ll never be able to repay him for.”
To all of you dads who are doing your best, we applaud you and thank you for being really good and godly fathers. To those who know that you’re not what you could be or should be, we urge you to look to the Word of God for the power to change. As the life of Dr. Ambrose illustrates, we cannot turn back time but we can make up for lost time!
Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ
