Anybody can be a parent, it takes effort to be a Father

Alright boys and girls... I'm a little delayed on this post, but I've been UBER-busy this week. This post is in response to the latest posting on Cup O'Joe (click on post title for the link).

Interestingly enough, I received my monthly newsletter from Charles Simpson a day or so before that post. (In fact I was gonna post this topic on my other blog, random acts of consciousness, but it fit too well here.. so I posted something else there.... check it out, lol) It was specifically speaking about Spiritual Fathers, which I think is just another term for the questions and comments Bill posted. On a side note, I absolutely LOVE when I find God quickening the spirits of two unrelated Men of God in completely different parts of the country in the same direction, continues to show me that God still moves and cares about His people.

The church has gotten away from the idea of "Fathering Spiritually". It's what Jesus did. He was the original "Church Father", but we have relegated that term to a position. If His spirit is one of fathering, then since we have that same spirit shouldn't we have a desire to raise up spiritual children. The apostles did. Unfortunately though, when someone says the "Church Fathers" they often just mean the apostles or leaders of a faith movement (ex. Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc.) I myself have often done that. But "Church Fathers" are meant to continue to train and raise up children. What does it mean to be a father in the natural sense? It means you teach, you train, you model, you encourage, you discipline, you love your child. The biggest key is you invest time and effort in their lives. A true father tries to raise good men and women. A true father is about the joy and fulfillment of the child than himself. It's not easy, but it is so important. Unfortunately our culture is so much of a "Me first" society that even fathering (and mothering) in the natural has taken a hit. It's more about "My time" and "my leisure" than our families. Now personal time is important, but not to the extent our society portrays. I know a number of post-college, late 20's adults who don't have any desire to have children because it would encroach upon "their lives and time". This type of self-centeredness has crept into the lives of believers as well and affected the view of fathering and mothering spiritual children. A believer should be trained by someone who has been there, or have a spiritual parent (often more than one... I know I have multilple). And that same believer should then be urged by the Spirit of God to turn around and raise up spiritual children. But, a pastor who is judged by the size of his congregation doesn't have time to invest in individual lives, the majority of the congregation would suffer (or so it's implied). And the person who attends cannot be bothered to raise up spiritual children, it would encroach upon their lives... and it's the pastor's job anyway, isn't it?

One of the reasons I feel that we have lost this passion for fathering (and yes this is MY OPINION feel free to disagree and take it for what it's worth... a young man in God, NOT AN EXPERT, ha. Just a disclaimer) is that the pendulum has swung too far. There has been a wonderful move within believers to make our walk with Christ a personal one. It is about a personal relationship. However, if we ONLY focus on our personal relationship, then it excludes anyone else. We all become individual ships in the sea of God. We don't interact and if we do it's just in passing. As a result there are a LOT of believers who have never reproduced.

What then shall we do? We need to restore the Spirit of God, which is a spirit of fathering and mothering. Again there has been an exceptional movement to restore God's Truth. But God's truth without God's spirit becomes legalistic. The law given to the children of Israel was truth then just as it is now. But without the Spirit of God brought into lives through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they could not satisfy the law. We often see grace as the opposite of law. But it is not. Grace is the difference between living under the law in condemnation and living with the law in us as life.

Ok.... there's about a thousand more things I have running through my head, but I'll stop now. God bless for anyone crazy enough to read through this. As always comments/question/disagreements are always welcomed enthusiastically.