Voters' Meeting Devotion: "Imitating God the Father"

In Ephesians 3, St. Paul writes: ¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every father in heaven and on earth is named. 

All Fatherhood is named after the heavenly Father. Fatherhood is modeled after the heavenly Father. What does God the Father do for us? He created us and He protects us.

Fatherhood is a good gift of God given for the protection of children. Just like God the Father, earthly fathers protect their children. Earthly fathers find the perfect example for their own fatherhood in the Fatherhood of God the Father. It is God the Father who shapes, forms, and orders the fatherhood of man.

Yet, so often, instead of forming our fatherhood in God’s image, we end up with a skewed view of God’s Fatherhood because of our twisted image of earthly fatherhood. Modernism and modern life have made fatherhood optional at best, and at worst penalized it. Fallen man has redefined marriage and reconstructed fatherhood in our image and after our likeness, instead of God’s image and His likeness.

Our sinful flesh is destructive. Our sinful flesh is selfish. God the Father is not destructive. God the Father is sacrificial. He asks for nothing in return but faithfulness. He gives and gives and gives. He is selfless. 

As earthly fathers seek to imitate God in His Fatherhood, earthly fathers are to protect their children. Earthly fathers are to protect their children from fatherlessness. God the Father has ordered life in a very specific way. So, we must not pretend that fatherhood is optional or unimportant. 

Earthly fathers protect their children from Satan, who is waging war against the children of God and is seeking to devour our children (1 Peter 5:8). So, just as the father must be present at the supper table at home, the father must be present at the Lord’s Table. Satan is at war against fatherhood. Satan has caused his fallen world to call into question whether human fathers are necessary at all.

Fathers protect their children from Satan. This is the duty of fathers: to take their children to the Divine Service, raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, teach them all the Lord has done for them in redemption from slavery to sin, and instruct them in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). In these ways, fathers protect their children from the assaults of the devil.

This is the duty of fathers. Let us give thanks to our Heavenly Father from whom our human fatherhood is named who also protects the souls of His blessed children.

Let us pray. Compassionate Father, from whom all fatherhood is named, we give You thanks for earthly fathers. Give them confidence in their station and zeal for their task to care for their families faithfully. Make them examples to their children of godly life and love of Your Word. Bless their work of bringing up children in the fear and instruction of the Lord, and give them the comfort of Your absolution over all their shortcomings. Amen.