CWW Week 16 - Day 2 - God In The Family

Joshua 24:15

‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’

Devotional.

We continue today to unpack the Resolution commitment with the eighth principle of manhood.

“I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.”

Are you on a treadmill?  Do you struggle to find time for yourself? Do you feel like there is so much expected of you ,and you often feel like a walking ATM who exists only to keep the family supplied with all they want to have a successful life?

Paul was a great guy. We flew together a lot and he was an excellent co-pilot. On the first day we flew together as we were cruising at thirty five thousand feet I wanted to get to know him. “What do you do for fun?” I enquired. “Fun? I don’t have fun I have kids!” “ What do you mean?” I replied.  “Well by the time I use what time I don’t spend at work running them to soccer and ballet lessons etc; and working all the overtime I can get to pay for their private school fees, iPads, school excursions to Europe, extra curricular activities etc, I have zero time for fun.”

“ Why do you do all that?’ I asked. “It’s what’s expected of me isn’t it?”

“What who expects?’ “Well society I guess.” “Have you ever asked your kids what they need?”

Paul said that he had never had that conversation with his kids.

The average Australian father spends thirty seven seconds in one on one communication with each of his children. This equates to the television spending more time talking to them by the time they are six years of age than you will in their entire lifetime.

That’s a frightening concept. Our kids are desperate to have us perfectly present in their lives. But we are too preoccupied giving them what they want at the expense of what they need. They need us to be there for them.

Lets pretend that you offered your child the choice of two boxes. One containing a fancy house, private schooling, a swimming pool, and holidays in Europe every year, with you in their lives thirty seven seconds a day. 

The other offered them a good public school, an average house, a swim at the local municipal baths, a camping holiday every year and you in their lives five hours a day; which one do you think they would take?

I think you know the answer. But you had better ask the question before they reach puberty because after that they will tell you to give them the first one. You are so miserable to even spend thirty seven seconds a day with without having you for five hours.

Can you see the difference between meeting their needs and giving them their wants?

God always gives us what we need rather than what we want. There are times when He can see that our character development is in need of some hardship, but we never ask for hardship do we? 

When our children keep having their desires met by us at great expense, we are undermining their ability to struggle through the inevitable hard times that lay ahead of them. We create a generation of childish adults who are bloated on entitlement, and how destructive is that?

Meeting their emotional needs is a vital component of principle number eight in the Resolution document.

Knowing how to love each of our family members and knowing that they each may respond to love in different ways is critical. I once again highly recommend the book “The Five Love Languages” by Dr Gary Chapman.

Our families needs encompass all the facets of healthy living. The physical, emotional, spiritual and a means of sustaining life such as food and water. We are called on to be committed to their needs as fathers in our homes. Fulfilling the needs of our families can only truly be met by establishing a clearly understood hierarchy. God first always, spouse second and children third. The best gift we can give our children is a happy marriage as this meets their need for security as they develop.

Failing to put spouse ahead of children may leave a gap that will be filled by another thus placing the family unit in peril.

Clearly we can see that all the principles of the Resolution are interwoven in a way that also enhances our sense of manhood in creating a flourishing family.

Who will you serve today?

Questions.

1. Do you have the strength to say no when no is required?
2. Are you always putting yourself on the back burner to the determent of your own joy thus depriving your family of the real you?
3. Is it now time to realise that you are a very important need your family has and re-arrange your life?

Prayer.

Dear Lord, Papa God.

You always meet my needs and I can truly see that often I need to have my wants pushed aside. I know that often my prayers are give me, give me, give me. Thanks you for showing me how selfish I can be and give me a heart to serve and meet the needs of my family Papa. For this I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Graham Hood.