Father’s Day

As we celebrate Father’s Day in June, let us remember that the best way to change our world is to fill it with Godly Christian men. Everyone in the Kingdom of God has vital work to do, but upon the men of God has been laid the responsibility of leadership.

Maybe we can learn from the mistakes of the first father, Adam, and be more like the greatest Father of all, our Heavenly Father.

Now the serpent was more subtil than  any beast of the field which the Lord God had make. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1

Adam strolled with Eve through the Garden of Eden. She amazed him with her winsome ways and intriguing perspective. He could listen to the sound of her voice for hours, whether she was speaking with him or with one of the fabulous creatures of the Garden, such as that beautiful serpent. But as wise and witty as it was, Adam knew it would never match Eve for sheer glory, insight, and persuasion of speech. He listened in amusement as the two of them bantered and sparred with words.

The serpent was speaking.

“By the way, has God said…”

Satan carefully spoke his first recorded words in this world, through the forked tongue of the serpent, and planted the seed of his original thought in the fertile mind of Eve. Subtle but solid, there is was: “question the Word of God.”

Adam listened to her reply.

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die’.” Genesis 3:2-3

    That wasn’t quite right, Adam thought, what was she up to?

    Satan saw his opening and took it, pressing the point of his lie home.

“Ye shall not surely die…”

And when the woman saw that the tree was good…she took of the fruit thereof…

    When Eve touched the fruit, two things did NOT happen:

    First, she did not die. Maybe the serpent was right, and God had lied to them.

    Second, her husband did not intervene. Adam stood silent and passive.

Unengaged, uninvolved, and uncommitted, the first man became a bystander, and willingly watched as literally the whole world fell apart.

Why didn’t he knock the fruit from her hand?

Why didn’t he pull her to safety and get between her and the serpent?

Why didn’t he chop that snake into wiener-sized pieces?

Adam, when faced with responsibility, chose inaction, and lost.

Today, we Christian men, still sons of Adam, are also sons of God. But the game is still on, and the stakes are still high.

As we watch the world around us fall apart, when sin and hopelessness ravage everything and everyone we claim to love, can we do better than Adam?

By the grace of God, yes!

We can intervene, speak up, and be assertive. We can become engaged, involved, and committed. We can reject sin, protect our loved ones, and fight against the Adversary wherever we find him.

Or we can, like Adam, step passively aside, with our hands in our invisible pockets, and let darkness reign.

What will YOU do?

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:14-15