Daily Devotional
How To Measure A Dad

October 16, 2016

Do you know how you measure a dad? By measuring the emotional and spiritual health of his family. Look at his children and you'll discover what kind of dad he likely is.

Psalm 127:4 says, "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth." Children, like arrows, are to be sharp. They're to be straight, strong, and balanced. If you want to make arrows, you don't start with dried-out sticks and twigs. You get wood that is green and pliable. In the same way, if you want to raise a godly adult, you start when they are young, when their curiosity, memory retention, trust level, and humility are all high.

If a warrior would shoot straight, he must be skilled and strong. You cannot be a good dad without developing your spiritual, emotional, mental strength. You must be skilled and strong.

There are many reasons why an arrow may miss the mark, and if your children fail it will not necessarily be your fault. You can take aim and a sudden wind may come along. Or you may have a defective arrow with a hidden weakness you don’t know anything about. If you have kids that have gone wrong, I want to remind you that Almighty God had some in the Garden of Eden, and they failed. But most of the time, if the child fails, it’s because of the warrior who has not pulled the bow and released the arrow with a good aim.

We dads have awesome power. The power of the father, the warrior, has far more to do with where the arrow goes than the arrow has itself. Your responsibility as a dad is to develop your skills to shape, to sharpen and shoot young arrows at the enemy.