Spiritual Fathers or Spiritual Grandfathers?

by Scott Volk www.fire-school.org

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The hour is desperate!

I hear the younger generation crying out for ‘spiritual fathers’, yet, when they’re lovingly corrected and biblically rebuked by those very fathers, they write them off as being old-fashioned, traditional, and out of touch with what the Lord is doing in ‘their generation’. Maybe instead of fathers, they really want grandfathers who will simply pat them on the back, offering only grandpa-like encouragement and positive reinforcement.

I hear older men saying that they desire to be ‘spiritual fathers’, yet, they’re seemingly unwilling to get down in the relational trenches with the very ones that need to be fathered because their ministry schedules are too busy and they have more important things to do. Maybe instead of being spiritual fathers, they really want to be spiritual grandfathers who merely give a thumbs-up when ministry outwardly seems to be going well even though inwardly their grandchild may be withering inside.

Why is it that children enjoy being around their grandparents? Could it be that at grandpa’s house, where candy grows on the carpet and dessert is eaten instead of dinner, life is simply easier? Could it be because at grandpa’s house, we can do almost whatever we please since grandpa is really not responsible for disciplining us; he merely desires to keep us happy until we return home?

I want to humbly confront both the generation that is crying out for fathers as well as the generation that says they desire to be fathers with this simple challenge: it’s time to step up to the plate. It’s time that our words become something more than spiritual rhetoric. It’s time for spiritual wayward sons to honor their fathers and it’s time for spiritual dead-beat fathers to change their ways and assume the role that God intended them to have in their spiritual households.

We’re living in a generation that is desperate to see the fulfillment of the Malachi 4 scripture that proclaims, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” It requires a turning on both parties – fathers turning to their children and children turning to their fathers.

Now more than ever, when biblical standards are being compromised in the name of successful ministries, we need the fathers to lovingly put their arms around their children and guide them into all truth.

Now more than ever, as young people are being commissioned by the Word of the Lord, we need to turn to the fathers, lest our youthful zeal and heavenly calling lead us into dangerous areas of pride and arrogance, eventuating in colossal failure and shame.

I believe we’re at a desperate hour and that the Lord desires to seize it for His glory. Fathers, let’s commit ourselves, by God’s grace, to allowing our hearts to be turned to our children; children, let’s commit ourselves, by God’s grace, to allowing our hearts to be turned to our fathers. Then and only then will the curse of Malachi 4:6 be avoided.