The Authority of the Father: Authority (Part 10)
Categories: Authority, Léo’s Insights 2019-2020
Tags: authority
Once again, I believe I need to make a few clarifications respecting last week’s presentation. I don’t regret having made any of my comments. I truly believe that the father of a household has the greatest authority on earth. Although one may see this as a great honour, it does come with a great deal of corresponding responsibility.
Of all the leaders in all jurisdictions, it is only the head of the human household who is addressed with God’s title. You will never hear God being addressed as God the president, or God the pastor or God the mother, for that matter. Indeed, as much as modern feminism has affected our society and although it may have disenfranchised men, it will never unseat God the Father!
My reason for wanting to clarify last week’s statements is to make it abundantly clear that there are few guarantees in life and having a perfect or even functional family is not one of them. There is little doubt that being in relationship with God will make life a bit easier to handle, first by avoiding pitfalls and then by providing a place of refuge when things don’t go well.
A man who truly follows God will have a better chance of minimizing error and consequent repercussions, but even the most dedicated man is flawed and living in an imperfect world. Even with the best of intentions, stuff happens that is completely out of our control and which often comes with no solutions.
The biggest issue preventing every man from being completely successful, aside from one’s own imperfections, is that we are not alone on this earth. All have been given free will, children included. If indeed a man follows after God, he too will extend the greatest amount of freedom to his children and just as God sees us mess up, so will we see our children mess up, also.
This world is a broken world and remembering that all you can do is all you can do and all you can do is enough, helps us get through tough times. That is all God expects of us. He has a formula for reducing problems, but no promises for an issue-free life, just a wonderful promise for after. Maybe the vagueness respecting heaven is that we can anticipate something better than what life has to offer on this earth!
I have seen it and I have heard about it. We really don’t know why, but there are some fathers who have put everything into being the best dad in the world, only to be rejected by the very children he sacrificed everything for. Then again, there have been some real bums for dads who seem to have a cohesive family of well-behaved kids!
What’s the secret? Who knows! All I can say is that the dad who followed God’s directive can always say he did his best and he knows what he wrote on the hearts of his children. Perhaps, as we are often told, the reward comes after we step out of life’s paradigm. I suppose one would have to die to find out!
I also want to make it clear that even though the father has been given the authority over his children, nothing goes well if the wife and mother is not on board. Wives used to be called helpmeets. I believe this was during a time when we accepted what God had ordained for family structure. The wife understood that she was to help her husband meet his obligations and responsibilities.
I do not want to present you with an unrealistic plan for marital and familial utopia. I simply want to encourage you to pick the best way to the least hardships, without guarantee. Follow God. Exhibit His authority by submitting to Him. It is still the best choice.
Previous Post: The Authority of Family: Authority (Part 9)