I like to fix things. A recent project involved a section of concrete sidewalk in front of our house. Some settling made the bicycle ride to school for the neighborhood kids treacherous. So I got my shovel, some 2X4’s and QuickCrete and leveled it up with the adjoining slabs. With some sweat and timely help from my bride, the problem was fixed. Unfortunately, a month or so later a couple of other sections of the concrete sidewalk started to drift and the bicycle ride in front of our house was treacherous once again. Then I addressed the solution – to tear out the old and lay new concrete complete with rebar connecting the individual sections to keep all smooth, no more drifting. My bride, the neighbors’ kids and the homeowners association are all happy.
There is a parallel to this project in society. Policies spinning out of the “war on poverty” initiative in 1964 come to mind. In an effort to provide a fix or relief for people in need, an unintended result was that marriage, fathers and family began to drift.
Today 40% of children are growing up in homes without dad present and over half of all babies born to women under 25 are born out of wedlock. These homes are more than four times as likely to live below the poverty line and seven times more likely to receive public assistance income than their counterparts with a mom and dad at home. Furthermore, in a recent article on violence against women, Bradford Wilcox documents that, “Married women are notably safer than their unmarried peers, and girls raised in a home with their married father are markedly less likely to be abused or assaulted than children living without their own father.” The drift of marriage, fathers and family over the past four decades is at the core of these societal woes. The ride through life has been treacherous for all caught up in this fix. The solution is to honor marriage, raise a godly generation and be responsible in family.
Tips to Be the Solution:
- Honor marriage and keep the marriage bed pure – “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure,for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” Hebrews 13:4.
- Exemplify Biblical manhood and teach your sons how to respect and treat young ladies – “These commandments I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7.
- Learn to love your wife more today than yesterday – “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her,” Ephesians 5:25.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for the opportunity to be a dad, Your representative in the home You have blessed me with. Teach me to love as You loved, to teach as You taught, and to walk as You walked in Truth with grace. Amen.
A faithful father is the solution to many societal woes as he reflects Jesus in marriage, family and beyond.
