Men these are things to ask your wife and children to pray for you. Have the courage to ask your family to help hold you accountable for these things.
•Love Christ first.
•By your sacrificial example encourage your wife to love Christ first.
•Love your wife so that she is confident you understand her deepest thoughts & moods.
•Love your wife by honoring her in the presence of your children.
•Love your wife by joyful sacrifice to enable her spiritual growth. Also love your wife by being sacrificially involved in the daily household needs.
•Love your wife by seeing her sins as opportunities to show the grace of God to her.
•By your sacrificial example encourage your children to love Christ first.
•Love your children by letting them know that you are incomplete without your wife.
•Love your children by learning to listen first and speak only words that are helpful and build up.
•Love your children by living out God’s word in front of them.
•Love your children by being a refuge for them.
•Love your children by knowing what they long for and what they fear..
•Love your family by using pleasant words to promote instruction.
3 thoughts on “A father’s job description – a partial list”
“Love your children by learning to listen first and speak only words that are helpful and build up.”
How does discipline fit into this picture? Sometimes, one must punish, but always with the goal to build up in Christ. Even Jesus got out the whip and cleared out the temple.
It is necessary to listen well before you can discipline well. Verbal instruction is part of discipline. Earle, I would caution you about using the story of Jesus with the whip in the temple with regard to disciplining your children. Christ was showing his righteous anger at how the temple had been desecrated. This is not the same as biblical discipline or of the biblical use of the rod. It is not meant to be a model for parenting.
These are also good things for the wife to do.