| “ Fathers, do not exasperate your children…” |
| —Ephesians 6:4a |
Did you ever read a verse of Scripture and wonder what incident prompted the writer to write those particular words? Please let me illustrate with this example:
I spent the bulk of my career as a fire protection engineer developing procedures for other fire protection engineers to follow, and then training them in those procedures. As a part of that responsibility, I had the privilege of serving on a number of Technical Committees of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), developing various codes and standards that were part of the National Fire Codes™.
I can look at various sections of the codes and standards that I helped develop and tell you exactly which fire or explosion prompted a change in the language of the code or standard, in order to promote greater safety for the protection of life and property.
Thus it is with Scripture. God has often chosen to give us very apparent clues as to why the Holy Spirit inspired a particular writer to pen the words recorded in Scripture. In other cases, we have no idea what prompted the particular section of God’s written Word.
I suppose my experience as a fire protection engineer writing codes and standards is why I wonder what incident prompted the Apostle Paul to write these words recorded in Ephesians 6:4:
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Did Paul have an event in his formative years regarding his own father? Or, did Paul observe certain behaviors in some fathers that the Holy Spirit then used to inspire Paul to offer this sage advice? Or, did Paul have some other experience that the Holy Spirit used to prompt Paul to write the instruction that Paul gave to fathers?
Fathers have a huge responsibility in shaping the lives of their children. That’s one reason we should be greatly alarmed at the rising birth rate among unwed women in certain segments of our population. Every birth where there is no father present in the household puts that child at a unique risk.
Has the church where you worship undertaken the task of helping fatherless families by providing some godly male influence in the lives of such children? If not, why not? And, do your pastors and Christian educators promote sexual purity before marriage to the young people in your congregations as the best, most responsible, and most godly way to live ?
These are all things to consider as we strive to be Christ’s ambassadors to a troubled world. Spiritual formation always has practical applications. We dare not ignore them.
Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, July 1, 2016
