In the 1930’s, William Beebe and Otis Barton teamed up for the design, testing and maiden voyage of the Bathysphere, a unique spherical deep-sea submersible vessel that had to withstand pressure 3000 feet below the surface of the ocean. It was a precursor for submersibles like the Bathyscaphe that ventured to depths of 30,000 feet in the Marianas Trench. At that depth, the vessel had to withstand 1.2 metric tons per square centimeter – that is like 1600+ elephants standing on the roof of a small car. If there is not an equal opposing pressure from the inside, the car collapses.

Homes today are under immense pressure. The elephants show up in a number of ways - social media flowing in, curriculum being taught in schools, popular movies & music being produced, packed schedules taking parents and kids different directions, dads and moms working to make ends meet – For there to be equal opposing pressure inside the home, there must be intentional effort put forward to establish family time for fun, eating meals together, discussing the day’s events and grounding all spiritually in a Christian worldview. 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 6:6-9. Did you hear the instruction to go to the synagogue, or to make sure the youth director and activities at the church are good for kids? Me neither. The instruction is for the home to provide the foundation for the kids to build on. Abdicating that responsibility as a dad to schools and/or churches can result in cultural pressures beyond what the home can stand. The call is to pressurize your home spiritually with the word of God through reading, praying, talking and walking in the Way that glorifies the Father. Then the kids will be able to offset cultural forces they face.

One key way to invest spiritually in your kids is to schedule regular one-on-one time with each child. For dads with daughters (ages 11-18), Faithful Fathering is conducting a father-daughter Being There weekend December 28–30th. Commit a weekend to invest quantity time that will yield quality results in relationship with your daughter. Click HERE for information and to register.

Prayer guide: Father, thank You for Your word and Your call to take responsibility for the spiritual health and well-being of my family. I too often abdicate all things spiritual to the church and all things educational to the schools. That is not why You share the moniker ‘Father’ with me. Forgive me. I commit this day to reading Your word in our home and to living under Your word personally and as a family. Your instructions are to love my wife as You love the Church and to raise godly offspring with her. Grant us discernment as parents to recognize the increasing cultural pressures and the boldness to pressurize our home with spiritual integrity. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

A faithful father pressurizes his home spiritually to offset cultural forces.