Savage About Sobriety June 18, 2023

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4 (NLT).

Happy Father's Day to all the dads, stepdads, heads-of-households, father figures, and positive male influences in the world! The Bible says to, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." - Exodus 20:12 (KJV). The Apostle Paul calls this commandment, "the first commandment with promise." -Ephesians 6:2 (KJV). It is our commandment from God to love, respect, and appreciate our parents and all they do for us. I honestly don't know where I would be without my dad and mom! I thank God and pray for them each and every day.

This is my second Father's Day in a row being sober. I thank God that after years of drug use, my kids are still willing to have me be a part of their lives. In my addiction I was a terrible dad. I never called them, wasn't there for them, and missed important times in their lives because I was either strung out or in prison. I nearly ended my life from a drug overdose and the thought of that being the last thing my kids would have known of me is more than I want to think about. I thank my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that He had another plan for me.

The Bible has plenty of instructions for children to respect and appreciate their parents, but I find the verses directed at fathers, and how they should treat their children to be the most interesting. Paul gives the church in Ephesus instructions for the whole family. He tells the children to "obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right," - Ephesians 6:1 (KJV), but he tells the fathers in 6:4, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord." (NLT).

Paul instructs fathers not to be abusive, not to be too harsh, and to teach them what it means to be a Godly person. There's a difference between disciplining your child out of love and just being mean because you can. In Colossians 3:21, Paul wrote, "Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged." (NLT). Basically, Paul is telling us that we need to love our kids the same way our Heavenly Father loves His children. God loves, provides for, is patient with, merciful to and forgives His children, but He also disciplines us when we get out of line. These are all characteristics of the father God wants us to be to our children.

As I look forward to another year of getting to be a sober, God-fearing dad/stepdad to the family God has blessed me with, I'm going to be the kind of Father God is to His children by reading my Bible and praying every day. I'm going to continue seeking God's counsel in how to be a better man of God for my family, and hopefully one day, the bad dad I was in my addiction will be a distant memory no one even thinks about anymore.