When Faithful Fathering charges dads to PASS the BATON of faith well to the next generation, the ‘A’ in PASS is for Action. Men tend to be passive and passivity is the devil’s playground where marriages fail nearly half the time and kids look to the internet and peers for answers to life’s questions.

Resolve this New Year to reject passivity and take Action on the fathering front:

• First, continue to learn to love your wife as Christ loved the Church. The most foundational education kids receive is through the day to day example of a healthy relationship between a man and a woman as husband & wife and dad & mom;
• Second, prioritize your physical presence – This starts with getting home before dinner time, enjoying dinner as a family without distractions and putting the kids’ activities on your calendar;
• Third, be engaged emotionally - make good use of time at the dinner table for conversations about the day. Schedule regular one-on-one time with each child – it is especially important to be dating daughters through the teen years. Finally, work to be available and approachable any time the kids want to talk;
• And lead spiritually by example - lead the way to church, have spiritual discussions as a family during the week and live your faith between Sundays.

So God created man in His own image; … He created them male and female … For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. – Genesis 1:27 & 2:24. Did He not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? What was He seeking? Godly offspring. – Malachi 2:15. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” – which is the first commandment with a promise – “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. – Ephesians 6:1-4. The family, by God’s design is the foundation for spiritual health and well-being across the generations. The responsibility falls on dad and mom to keep the marriage pure and build their home on the Rock – their personal, passionate and growing relationship with Jesus the Christ that is lived daily in marriage and reflected in family. The kids understand obedience as the dad takes action to keep the family grounded in the training and instruction of the Lord. The call is to take action on the fathering front to make it so.

Prayer guide: Lord, thank You for Your word and Your love. You have provided the foundational design for marriage and family with responsibilities that are not to be abdicated. I confess I have been passive and allowed cultural pressures to influence me and my family. I have effectively abdicated everything spiritual to the church and everything sexual to the school. Forgive me. Strengthen me in the power of the risen Christ and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to reject passivity and take action to stand against the culture of this world. Equip me to raise my family in the training and instruction of You, to be a faithful father - the dad You call me to be and the dad the next generation needs. Amen.

A faithful father rejects passivity and takes Action on the fathering front.