This is the sobering question I want every father to ask himself today. Some years ago a leading author on adolescent behavior in America made this astounding statement, “The very worst thing that could ever happen to most children would be for them to grow up and be like their parents.”
I cannot make this statement with absolute certainty, but one thing I can say with certainty, “Most children will grow up to be very much like their fathers. Now today the question I pose to us who are Fathers is this: If my child grows up to be just like me, what kind of person will my child be?
In 1 Kings 15:25-26 we are introduced to a man named Nadab. We have few facts about this guy recorded in the Bible and yet we can write a complete biography of him. How? Because 1 Kings 15:26 says “Nadab walked in the ways of his father.” And we know much about his father, whose name was Jeroboan. Jeroboan was born of a good family, was intelligent, very popular and successful in the eyes of men, but he was a failure in the eyes of God. 1 Kings 14:9 states that Jeroboan “was more evil than all who were before him.” The Bible says he “drove Israel away from the Lord and caused them to commit great sin” – the sin of idolatry. He led the people to worship the golden calf and established his own holy days to replace the ones ordained by God. To put it on a personal basis, Jeroboan led his son to quit worshipping the true God and forced him to worship idols. No doubt this led young Nadab into the deepest sins of the flesh – immorality, alcohol, theft, adultery, incest, etc.
Now fathers permit me to ask some specific questions growing out of the generic question I have already asked you, “If my child grows up to be just like me, what kind of person would my child be?”
- Will my child be saved or will he be lost? The greatest factor in the salvation of your child is your example. I doubt I would ever have been saved had my father not set the example before me. I well remember how he came to me in the pew, pleading with me to trust the Lord.
- Will the Bible be my child’s guidebook for life? Will he read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, live it in life? Father, he will do what you have done. What will it be?
- Will prayer be a priority in his life or just something he turns to in times of trouble?
- Will your child be identified with a local church and active in its ministry?
- Will your child be a tither of his money through the local church or spend his money on his own selfish desires. Illus: A man said to me some years ago that not one of his children was a tither. I asked him why. He replied in these words, “Because I got mad with our pastor when he preached on tithing and on one occasion threatened to whip him.” He was weeping as he told me.
- Will your child honor his body as the temple of the Holy Spirit or will he use it for his own sinful indulgence?
- Will your child be a person of integrity, always keeping his word, or will he be a compromiser, promise breaker, undependable.
- Will your child be a good husband or will he be so self-centered no one can live with him?
- Will he face each day with an optimistic, positive attitude, or will he act like one “born in the kickive mood and objective case?”
- Will your child go to heaven at death or will be destined for hell?