What About You Dad, Are You Causing Your Family To Sin?

I was reading in my Bible this morning in the book of 1 Kings and saw something in verse 26 that while I have read numerous times, the Holy Spirit brought out a level of meaning that I had not seen before. It says: "He (The current King of Israel.) did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit."

The thought came to me that a king can cause his subjects to sin, and a father can also lead his family to sin. Now let me tell you, that made me sit up and take notice. I've been on this journey of discovering what a true authentic man of God is for quite some time now, and today I think I've put another piece of the puzzle into place. I don't have a complete picture yet, but it is coming more and more into focus all the time.

As fathers, we lead our families in the way that God wants us to go, if we are doing it correctly. This can be a little bit overwhelming if we will let it however. And the reason that it can become overwhelming is if in fact we are trying to do this on our own. The more we lean on our own understanding of things, the more we will become stressed when things get tough. You see, we were never made to figure everything out on our own. If that were the case, then why did God say that if we lacked wisdom we should ask Him for some? (James 1:5)

What I think is one of the biggest problems that men have, is this tendency to isolate themselves and think that they should be able to handle any situation that comes along. Then when they fail (And eventually, they will.) that failure sends them into a downward spiral that causes them to go even more into isolation and the failures come even faster.

We were never meant to do this alone, and when we do, the leading of our families goes awry and they begin to do things on their own. We, as men, are the source for all the needs our families have. Our source as men, is God. So when our family has a need they bring it to us, and we in turn bring it to the Father, and He supplies our need so that we can supply theirs. If we are alone in this, then we have no source, and when our family brings their need to us, our supply gets depleted and we fall into sin.

By our example, our family then falls into sin as well, and before you know it, you have led your family into sin, just as some of the kings in the Bible led Israel astray and after other gods. It's insidious, and something that the enemy has been using for a very long time. Remember, there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

What we as men have to do, is to lean more and more on the Holy Spirit as our helper, asking God to reveal to us what our next step is. We need to let our families see us pray, and ask for help. We need to let them see where our help comes from, and in doing so they will begin to have faith to seek His help as well. Fathers are responsible to teach their children about God, this does not mean you have to have a set devotion time every day. (Something that is terribly difficult in our fast paced world nowadays.)

Just make the most of all the time you have with your children. Teach them Scripture as you drive to sporting events, have them read a passage from the Bible as you're driving them to school, or to a friend's house. Pray together (And keep it short.), ask them what they are needing from the Lord and agree with them about it. Most of all however, as fathers let your kids see that you love your bride, kiss her, hug her and make a game out of grossing your kids out with your affection.

Men, we don't have to lead our families into sin, if we will keep ourselves centered on what we are supposed to do, be humble to ask God for help and be transparent with our brides and kids, they will be transformed into what they are supposed to be for God. So men, get 'em up and let's go lead our families into the Kingdom!