Giving Honor
Today is Father’s Day. Today we honor the men to whom we have been given as offspring and on whom we have relied for provision, teaching, guidance and love. Whether your experience of fatherhood has been healthy or broken, or some strange mixture of both, this is a day to reflect upon God’s wise design of family and to remark upon that which is worthy of honor.
Our family has recently discovered that my mother’s father was a hero who died with honor in the Battle of the Coral Sea, which was a significant battle at the onset of World War II. We always knew that his ship sank, and that my mother never knew him, but until my husband started digging into the recorded events, we did not know much of his story.
This young man, with a wife and child at home, gave his life for something bigger than his own happiness. He died for the sake of his country and for liberty. It might seem that we were robbed of his potential. I believe that what we gain from his brief life and heroic death is worth more than we can fathom. You see, a man’s days, whether many or few, speak into the future. His story inspires us and marks our lives today. Remembering him requires us to think about what matters. It demands that we know what we are willing to live for and what we are willing to die for. His destiny is forever tied to ours, and we will make sure that our children and theirs will not forget.
Dear reader, who in your life is worthy of honor? Take some time this week to give honor where it is due. As it says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (NASB) And give thanks in prayer for the men in your life, the father figures, whom God has used to teach and encourage you.
Father in heaven, you have ordained the nucleus of family and you have set fathers in their families on purpose. Thank you for my own dear father, who lives now forever with you. Thank you for my husband, this honorable man you’ve given to our family, who represents you so well. Thank you for my brother and for my brother-in-law, men of courage and conviction. Thank you for everything you’ve done to bring my grandfather into focus so that future generations can be inspired to live beyond themselves. You are a good Father, and you do all things well. I praise you for the kind intention of your will and for the majesty of your purpose. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Until next week, beloved, live worthy of the call of God.