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The title is from Roland Warren’s book, “Bad Dad’s of the Bible”. Because I have not read the book, I do not now which failed fathers Warren lists in his book.
Here are three men and the three terrible mistakes they make as bad dads: Mannasseh is straight- up an overly wicked father. As king of Judah, he set up idol worship in the temple and in high places. Mannasseh sacrificed his children in fire, practiced divination, witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a lot of evil and God was angry with him. (see 2 Chronicles 33:1-6) Eli was an overly permissive father and put his family ahead of God. He confronted his sons wicked actions, but ended up tolerating them. God was angry with Eli. 1 Samuel 2:29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’ 1 Samuel 3:13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. David was an overly-absent father. King David is described as a man after God’s heart but failed as a father. Amnom, his first born was a rapist and David did nothing. Absalom, his third born son killed Amnon for raping their sister and David was absent. Absalom had a hostile take-over of his father’s throne and slept with his father’s wives, but David did nothing. Adonijah, his fourth born son, tried a hostile take-over of David’s throne and David was talked into action by his wife, Bathsheba and the prophet, Nathan. David was an overly absent father. There are wicked fathers in our community who serve the idols of meth, alcohol and other substances. Their children are not put through fire literally, but are not getting proper food, clothing or shelter. There are permissive fathers in our community who tolerate actions of their children that are against God’s best for their lives. We have overly absent fathers in our community who are gone to work before their children are up and work late including weekends. They are paying the bills, buying nice things, but are losing their children because they are absent. Avoid being a bad dad by living for Jesus, raising a holy standard in love and by being actively engaged and present in your relationships. God is good and will help us in our relationships with those who matter most in our lives.
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 There are two types of people - those who enjoy camping and those who hate camping. It is just about as polarized as those who love sauerkraut and those who hate it. (I have not checked the stats to see of those who hate sauerkraut love to go camping or not.) Many of our church family loves camping and in a couple weeks a number of us will travel a few hours north and spend five days together at a campground for a mission project.
We will stay at a campground in tents or campers. Our time together will take us out of our comfort zones. We will see each other early in the morning before coffee or other normal routines that move us from the morning zombie-like appearance to something publicly presentable. We will prepare our breakfast meals over a campfire and camp stoves. We will battle mosquitoes and sunburn. Our time together will be equal to four months of Sundays. Relationships blossom or blow-up with extended periods of time spent together, sometimes both. It is not surprising that the Bible records conflicts among the disciples, especially while they were spending 24/7 time with each other while following Jesus. The disciples argued about who among them was the greatest. They were furious when they heard that James, John and their mother talked to Jesus about getting the best seats in heaven. The disciples were pointing the blame at each other for not bringing bread with them while traveling. Jesus used those conflicts to draw His followers closer to Himself and each other. Jesus pointed them to a higher standard, a higher purpose and a higher calling. He does the same for you and I today. Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Next time your church has a campout, retreat, short-term mission trip or extended conference, sign up to see how Jesus changes you when out of your comfort zone and conflicts occur. You may be surprised by how much you blossom. |
Mark Radeke
Husband of one, father of five, pastor and friend of many. Archives
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