Father’s Day Encouragement: Abide In Jesus

A HIGH CALLING

Father’s Day. I love this day, and most of the time I use it as an excuse to take our family camping. “You know, it’s Father’s Day. Maybe we should do what any good dad would do with his family, and head into the woods for a few days.” It works most years. 

But, Father’s Day is also a day where I reflect on what it means to be a good father in all seasons. As fathers, we share a title with God—our heavenly Father. While this is a great honor, it is also sobering. To be a father, as God is our heavenly Father, is a high calling. We need to take time to reflect on what it means to be a father—what it means to share this title with God—and Father’s Day is a perfect day to do that. 

WE ARE NOT “IT”

All creation was made to reflect God’s glory to a watching world. Our greatest sin is trying to take that glory unto ourselves. As fathers, this is no different. When we think the fulfillment of our family’s affections, foundations, comfort, stability, and worship (yes worship) is found in us, we are stealing glory from God. So often, I treat my family like my personal little kingdom—where everything that my family needs comes from me, and in return, they serve my needs. This is both destructive and devastating. I am not enough. We, as fathers, are not enough. Only God can be the fulfillment of our needs.

As Jesus was getting ready to go to the cross, He was sharing some final teaching and encouragement with His disciples. Take a look at John 14:6-14 with me:

 ^“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”  Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” 

Jesus was on His way to the cross, about to make the greatest sacrifice of all time, and He was using those finals hours to teach and encourage the men He had already invested countless hours into. Instead of laying claim to the glory that was rightfully His, He continually pointed their hearts to God the Father in every way possible.

Jesus, being fully God, had every right to claim the glory for Himself. It was rightfully His. But He didn’t. Even in the last moments of His life, He directed His disciples to the glory of God the Father. He made it known that He had come to do the work of the Father for the glory of the Father. 

Jesus, the Son of God, is also the conduit between mankind and God. If He did not lay claim to the glory, then I better not either. The title I share with God was meant to describe my role in caring for God’s people and leading them to Him. My role as a father (and husband) was never meant to be the fulfillment of everything my family needs or a means to my own glory, but rather a conduit or pathway to what they really need—God Himself. When I stop being the conduit and start trying to be the source of power for my family, we are in trouble, because I cannot provide all that my family needs. And when I don’t meet the needs in my family on my own, I get hurt, causing more damage to my family.

This is especially true in the midst of loss. Fathers, we are inadequate to meet the needs of our family on our own. We cannot be their only source of comfort. We cannot fix things. We are the conduit, leading our families to the source of power and comfort found in God our Father. We need to accept that we don’t have enough; we cannot give our families everything they need. This realization can be painful, but it is also freeing. I don’t have to be “it.” That’s God’s job. I am simply called to lead my family to Him.

ABIDE IN JESUS 

So, what does it mean to be a father? What is the best thing for me to do as a father? Look at what Jesus says in the very next chapter.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:5-8.

Jesus is the way to the Father, and if we are going to lead our families to God it will only be through Jesus. That starts with us abiding in Him—spending time reading and studying God’s Word, peaching the gospel to ourselves, communing with God in prayer, and meditating on His promises as we teach them to our families and ourselves.

When we walk through seasons of loss, grief, or difficulty with our families, we will not be enough. If we want to provide comfort to our families during hard times, we need a well-worn path to the One who is enough. If we are going to care for our families well, it must come from a place of abiding in Jesus. We must be filled by Jesus so that when we are pouring into our families, they are not being filled by us but by God, Himself.

On this Father’s Day take some time to consider whether you are trying to be “it.” Are you stealing God’s glory and hurting your family by trying to be all they need? If I am honest with myself, this is often me. I need to be reminded that I am not the source of true comfort, but the conduit to it. What a blessing and honor we have been given as fathers, reflecting our Father in heaven. Father, abide in Jesus. Happy Father’s Day

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Jesse Schmidt is the Church Planter and Lead Pastor of Vertical Church Milwaukee. Jesse and his wife Ashlee have five children on earth and two little ones in heaven.

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