As you know this Sunday is designated nationally as, “Father’s Day”.  I have been thinking about what makes a fabulous father.  So many fathers and fathers-to-be who have been in the headlines recently certainly would qualify as anything but fabulous.  Is it wealth?  Is it education?  Is it position?  Is it power? What truly puts the 21st century father in the category of “Fabulous”?   Job 1: 1 states about a father named Job, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job and that man was blameless, upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.”  Job had four characteristics which put him in the Fabulous List.

First, he was blameless.  Proverbs 13:6 tells us, “Righteousness keeps him whose way is blameless, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.”  Job was a man of integrity.  He guarded his actions, his answers, and his accountability.  Second, he was upright.  Proverbs 20:7 reminds us, “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.”  He was a father of impeccable character and godly conduct.  Third, he feared God.  Joshua told the adults of Israel, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel,” Joshua 24:23. Job did this by seeking to experience God, by leaning toward His commandments, by standing in awe of His greatness, and by realizing what it meant to be part of the family of God.  Fourth, he shunned evil.  Six words remind us as 21st century fathers how to do this, “Abstain from every form of evil,” I Thessalonians 5:22.  Just like Job, we must realize the challenge of evil.  We must recognize the character of evil.  We must regard the consequences of evil.

Dads, your children and mine are living a generation which often substitutes lies for truth, compromise for conviction, and expediency for honor.  They have learned from national political leaders, sport figures, celebrities and sad to say religious leaders how to lie, prevaricate, rationalize, fabricate and equivocate while at the same time blaming someone else for their actions.  Lying leads to cover-up.  Cover-up leads to addiction.  Addiction leads to self-defense.  Self-defense leads to rationalization. Rationalization leads to a life style of ungodly behavior.  Today tolerance for sin is our national motto and political correctness is our mantra.  On this Sunday as fathers are recognized throughout our nation may it be said of each of us that by the grace of God and with Christian commitment we will seek to belong to that elite group known as Fabulous Fathers.  The next generation depends on it.