In today’s chaotic world, there is a constant found in every nation: fatherlessness. Fatherhood doesn’t “just happen.” It’s learned and passed on. Your private decisions will become the next generation's public destiny.
In the devotional, A Man’s Guide to a Maximized Life, my dad, Ed Cole, wrote of the nobility of fatherhood.
It is our responsibility as Christian men, our privilege, to raise a generation of young warriors who are not bankrupt in the basics of life. One thing is certain: they will pass on to the next generation the principles they learn from us.
Let’s train, mentor, and disciple. This is how my dad put it:
Men have long striven to give their children “a better life than I had.”
We establish trusts and college funds. We pull strings behind the scenes to get jobs for our children. We pave the way however we can.
But—trust funds can never be a substitute for a fund of trust.
I have been far from the perfect parent. But once I began to make Nancy my joint heir, to appreciate rather than depreciate her, parenting became a less tumultuous effort.
Parenting is still life’s greatest art form.
Life and death are in our decisions.
The solution to family problems, in God’s order for the family, is to begin with the father. It is a rare family these days where the man exercises leadership in solving family problems. Men abdicate this part of their manhood.
Today’s father thinks too often that fathering is helping to pay bills, providing a home and perhaps an education, administering an occasional lecture, and, at various times, being the disciplinarian.
But fathering is a comprehensive task. It means thinking, studying, monitoring, recommending, influencing, and loving. It means pointing your children to Jesus Christ.
God has planned for someone to take charge in your home. It is you.
Active fathers who lead their children into a strong relationship with God and family maximize their own manhood.
Leading your family in righteousness is your prime responsibility and priestly ministry.
To abandon it for personal pleasure, forfeit it through moral cowardice, or shirk it because of irresponsibility is wrong.
The true legacy of a father is in the spirit he gives his children.
The apostle Paul gave the premise for a good father when he said, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The pattern for fathering is to “train a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6).
Children may not always listen to you, but they will always imitate you. The example is set not in the words spoken but in the deeds done.
The father’s noblest action is giving himself to his children and to God.
Brother, we must prepare our children today - for tomorrow. For that day when they will be called upon to live by the standards they hold in their heart - without you holding their hand. To be able to stand strong when the world is filled with trauma.
We cannot afford to assume our children will grow up in circumstances like our own.
They must be trained and their character prepared to sustain them through the toughest of days.
Paul Louis Cole
