Father Abraham
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. (Genesis 22:17-18)
If you grew up in church, one of the first songs you learned is a song entitled “Father Abraham.” It’s an infectious song with a catchy tune about the Hebrew patriarch, Abraham, whose name literally means father of many nations. His is a story of promise and destiny in which God proclaims that his lineage will be as numerous as the sands of the beach or the stars in the sky.
As we get closer to celebrating Father’s Day, the life of Abraham provides some instruction and inspiration as we attempt to unpack, understand, and wrestle with the imperative and struggles of fatherhood for the times in which we live.
Abraham’s life teaches us that the model of fatherhood is not uniform. It’s not a one-size-fits all model. We tend to romanticize the lives of great heroes and heroines of the Bible, but what makes them great is not that their lives were pristine. What makes them great is that they were real human beings, with real struggles, real challenges, and real issues that they didn’t mind offering to God.
The Bible’s overall portrait of Abraham is a complex one. In some instances, we see him as a righteous man with wholehearted commitment to God. But he is also pictured as a more complicated figure, one who struggles with being honest at times. He appears as both a man of great spiritual depth and strength, and a person with common human weaknesses and needs. This is important for us to notice because Abraham shoes us that fatherhood is not monolithic, nor does a dad have to be perfect to be considered a good father.
Even through all of the struggles and mistakes Abraham dealt with during his life, God still chose to bless him and to use him, and he can do the same for you. Even if you haven’t been the perfect father, that doesn’t mean God can’t use you in the lives of your children and in the lives of other people around you.
If you grew up in church, one of the first songs you learned is a song entitled “Father Abraham.” It’s an infectious song with a catchy tune about the Hebrew patriarch, Abraham, whose name literally means father of many nations. His is a story of promise and destiny in which God proclaims that his lineage will be as numerous as the sands of the beach or the stars in the sky.
As we get closer to celebrating Father’s Day, the life of Abraham provides some instruction and inspiration as we attempt to unpack, understand, and wrestle with the imperative and struggles of fatherhood for the times in which we live.
Abraham’s life teaches us that the model of fatherhood is not uniform. It’s not a one-size-fits all model. We tend to romanticize the lives of great heroes and heroines of the Bible, but what makes them great is not that their lives were pristine. What makes them great is that they were real human beings, with real struggles, real challenges, and real issues that they didn’t mind offering to God.
The Bible’s overall portrait of Abraham is a complex one. In some instances, we see him as a righteous man with wholehearted commitment to God. But he is also pictured as a more complicated figure, one who struggles with being honest at times. He appears as both a man of great spiritual depth and strength, and a person with common human weaknesses and needs. This is important for us to notice because Abraham shoes us that fatherhood is not monolithic, nor does a dad have to be perfect to be considered a good father.
Even through all of the struggles and mistakes Abraham dealt with during his life, God still chose to bless him and to use him, and he can do the same for you. Even if you haven’t been the perfect father, that doesn’t mean God can’t use you in the lives of your children and in the lives of other people around you.
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