Christianity calls for all that a man is and has—his heart, his desires, his will and his actions (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Therefore, a Christian father will manifest the following characteristics:
1-Love God and follow after His holiness.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
2-Love his wife as Christ loves the church.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
3-Lead his family spiritually by words and actions.
“…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
4-Work hard to provide for the needs of his family.
“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
5-Be self-controlled, gentle and not abusive.
“… not violent. but gentle, not quarrelsome…” (1 Timothy 3:3).
6-Discipline his children in love.
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
7-Possess a clean image.
“…blameless…temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior” (1 Timothy 3: 2).
8-Manifest the Fruits of the Spirit in his life.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22, 23).
9-Hold a good reputation.
“Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7).
10-Be a example of righteousness for his children.
“For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just…” (Genesis 18:19).
These godly characteristics are not the natural product of human nature, but of a divine power. They naturally develop in the Christian man when the Holy Spirit has control in his life (Galatians 5:18).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
