If you’re like most fathers… it seems we’re cast as the passive members in our family play. From sitcoms to stand-up comedy, men are dismissed as less than essential in the modern family home. Dads, if you’re not careful, you might start to believe it’s true.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Men are called by God to lead and men are cast in a divine role as the trailblazer of life for our families and kids to follow. Granted, each of us has our unique personality and leadership style, some more behind the scenes and others extroverted…but all of us are called to reject passivity for something more.
I believe that ‘something more’ is FIERCE!
fierce / adjective = (of a feeling, emotion, or action) showing a heartfelt and powerful intensity. – “he kissed her with a fierce, demanding passion”
Guys, how we respond to our wives, our children and our faith shouldn’t be passive, we can’t afford ‘laid-back”. It’s essential that we give our domestic responsibilities every bit of the attention, focus, and determination we show for our work, fantasy football leagues and golf game.
Living out our faith with emotion and heartfelt passion is a “MUST” for dads.
Doesn’t mean we rush around with unsustainable fervor, but it does mean we lead in offering prayer at dinner, talking with our kids when they return from youth group, noting priorities in family calendars by choosing to put Christ first in our plans.
It also means we live with passionate desire for our wives. Showing our children how to revere and respect a lady, modeling healthy affection and appropriate intimacy with our spouses.
In following Christ’s example, we are to love our wives as Christ loved the church. That is FIERCE love. Love that won’t let go, won’t give up and believes in the future being brighter than the past. When we take the lead in living out life, we’re supporting and assisting our wives in raising up our kids. We’re active in our communities of faith and we’re intentional about sharing what God is teaching and revealing to us in our devotional times. We’re doing laundry, dishes, and cleaning toilets!
In essence, we’re called to set the pace in our homes, to walk the walk with deep devotion and oodles of gentleness. Providing more than spending money and the basic stuff everyone needs, we’re called to be nothing less than Christ to our wives and kids! Dads, that is truly FIERCE living.
