Answers

By   •   June 11, 2013   •   Topics:

Q:

I know I wasn't a very good father, but I'm an old man now and I really wish I could see my children again. I've begged them to forgive me, but they just ignore me. I don't know why I'm writing, but maybe you can urge fathers to do better than I did.


A:

Tomorrow, Americans will be celebrating Father’s Day, a special day set aside to honor our fathers and thank God for all they have meant to us. Being a good father isn’t easy, but almost nothing is more important, when we see it from God’s viewpoint.

If you could live your life over again you’d probably try to avoid the bad decisions you made, and you’d try to be a better father. And that’s one reason I wanted to reprint your letter, because it reminds us of what happens when fathers ignore their God-given responsibility to “Train a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). God is our Heavenly Father, and He is our example of what it means to love and care for our children.

What can you do? First, seek God’s forgiveness for the past—not just for the wrongs you did, but also for the good things you failed to do. God loves you (as well as your children), and the greatest discovery you’ll ever make is that He loves you so much He sent His Son into the world to die for you. By a simple prayer of faith confess your sins to God and ask Christ to cleanse you and come into your life.

Then do whatever you can this Father’s Day to let your children know you still love them, in spite of your failures. Pray for them also, that God will bring healing to their hurts and help them forgive the past.