The Work of Fathers – Sunday, June 15, 1980
Of what work may a man be most proud? Should he be proud to be a patriot? Should he be proud to preside over a great business corporation, command vast armies, occupy a seat of power in government, receive the cheers of thousands, be the subject of biographies? Such works should make a man feel proud indeed of his accomplishments.
But listen to the words of one man who lived just such a life and then looked back. “By profession,” he wrote, “I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder—infinitely prouder—to be a father. . . It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle but in the home, repeating with him our simple daily prayer, ‘Our Father Who Art In Heaven.’ “1 General Douglas MacArthur wrote those words and he was right. Our world needs good men for many things, but for nothing so much as to be righteous fathers. No number of brilliant statesmen, subtle philosophers, resourceful businessmen or scientific geniuses can save us from chaos if we break the thread that binds our generation to the next.
We speak of the Father of Our Country or the Father of Modern Science, or the father of endless other endeavors. But these are merely metaphors, shadows of the singular title a man assumes when he shares in the sacred act of creating another human being.
Fatherhood is a responsibility which cannot be delegated or ignored. Every father will influence his child for good or bad. Traits of his mind and body will be part of the baby even before it is born. Virtually everything the father does will affect his child. No man can run so far or hide so well that his absence or presence, his indifference or concern, his cruelty or his kindness will not affect his child for good or ill.
What a sobering responsibility and what an inspiring opportunity it is to be a father .
God bless the righteous fathers of this world.
Men will do great works here on this earth for which they will be duly honored, and duly proud, but they will do no greater work than bringing forth and “training up”2 another generation.
It is significant that God, Who could have chosen any awe-inspiring title in the universe, has asked that we call Him Father.
1 MacArthur: His Rendevous with History, Major General Courtney Whitney, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1956.
2 Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6.
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June 15, 1980
Broadcast Number 2,652