What Makes a Good Father?

Our Father in heaven is how we begin the Lord’s Prayer. So what makes for a good father? Is a good father one who provides for his wife and children? Is a good father one who protects his children from the dangers of this world? Is a good father one who disciplines his children lovingly so that they learn a valuable lesson? Is a good father one who teaches his children to love and respect their mothers? Is a good father one who teaches his children to love and fear and know the Lord? I think the answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes. But dare I say the most important quality that makes a man a good father is that he has a relationship with his children. A love for his children that his children could never doubt. A trust so unbreakable that they know that they can come to him and tell him anything. His children know that he will never turn his back on them no matter what they do. He has a bond with his children that could never be broken. A good father loves his children and his love for them shows itself in everything that he does for his children. But unfortunately as you all know we live in a sinful world. A world where even the best of fathers fail to love their children perfectly. We unfortunately live in a world where many fathers don’t even know their children. Many fathers don’t love their children or have a relationship with them at all. We live in a world where fathers fail to teach their children about God and all that he has done for them. Good God-fearing fathers in this sin-plagued world are not so easy to find. But dear brothers and sisters, all of us, although we are sinful, we have a father who desires to have a relationship with us. At our baptisms he made us his dear children and he is our dear father. He listens to our prayers and answers those prayers in ways that are always good for us. He protects us from the eternal dangers of this world and he disciplines us at times in order to bring us back to him, to keep us connected to him in his word. He comforts us when our hearts are troubled. Brothers and sisters we have a great father. He promises us as his children that he will never leave or forsake us. In fact, he turned his back on his own son also that he could save us. So during this Thanksgiving, one of the many things that we can thank God for is that he has established a relationship between us and him. He is our dear father and we are his dear children and he will love us with the love that is perfect now and for eternity. Thanks be to our Father in heaven who loves us. Amen.