It is fitting that the Friday before Father's Day we have the opportunity to look at the 4th Commandment beginning the Second Table of the Ten Commandments. The entire Men's Ministry at Hope Lutheran Church and School, and probably other churches if yours has a ministry for men, was intended to create men of Christ, dedicated to uniting in fellowship around the Word through growing to become the men Christ desires us to be in service to Christ, the church, our families, our neighbors, and the entire community, believers and non-believers alike. The First Table defines our relationship to God, and the Second Table defines our relationships here on earth, beginning with our primary figures in our lives, our parents.
It's interesting to note that God speaks to us in the First Table and places Himself at the top of our priorities: "You shall have no other gods;" and, then on the Second Table, He places our parents at the top of our priorities: "Honor your father and your mother." In all we do, we place God first in our lives. In all we do on earth, our parents begin us on our path to do just that. As fathers, we are the primary spiritual driver in the family. Hebrews 12 speaks to this as the author notes that we have all had fathers who disciplined us, all the more reason to receive the discipline of our Father for our spirit and eternal life. The Catechism notes Proverbs 22 as it says, "Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old."
We pray that we devote ourselves to better understanding God's expectations for us in our lives. We pray that we read, learn, and digest God's Word and its meaning for us as men of God and as husbands and fathers, a role given as a role of responsibility. We pray that we are there for others who need that fatherly figure in their lives with their own father possibly not being there for them.
Have a blessed Father's Day this Sunday.
Hope Men's Ministry
No comments:
Post a Comment