Anyone can be a father and a husband, but it takes a lot of effort and commitment to be a good one. And it's most crucial as believers and followers of Christ that we Christian men step up to the plate and become fathers who not only build companies, payrolls and empires, but also build homes.
It's been said that corporations will always have more CEOs, churches can always get another pastor, but your home will only ever have one father and one husband - in other words, one you. God calls us into this important role, but also more importantly empowers us through His Holy Spirit to become men who build homes, not abandon them.
Here are five traits that men can and should grow in through God's empowering to build a stronger home.
Devotion
Everything we do starts and ends with our devotion to God. When we're in good standing with God and spend time with Him on a regular basis, our family will feel the outflow that we receive from God. When we devote ourselves to spiritual disciplines but more importantly a heart of worship, God builds our home for and with us.
Sacrifice
John 15:13 tells us, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." It goes the same way for family as it does with friends. Just as Jesus laid His life down for His bride the church and for His family the saints, we are also to respond by living a life of sacrifice for our children and wives. The only reason we can sacrifice for others is because Jesus has already sacrificed for us.
Compassion
John 13:34 commands us saying, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." Our compassion towards not just our family but others around us, especially those in dire need, become a cement that holds a family together. Just as Jesus is compassionate towards us, He calls us to be channels of this compassion to our family and to others.
Faith
Just like a lightning rod is quick to catch currents of power, a father acts like a spiritual lightning rod catching God-given faith and becoming a conduit of that faith for the whole family. When a father lives on the faith and hope that is in Christ, it becomes next to impossible for the family not to feel it and walk in it as well.
Leadership
Another important role a man plays in the home is the role of a coach. We are in the business of making our spouses and children better by effectively leading them and bringing out the best in them, not by manipulating or berating them, but by encouraging and helping them process their strengths and abilities and finding ways for them to practice them.
