"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
In the morning, as we prepare for work, occasionally my husband will turn the television on. The show that we typically end up filling the air with is a show about this Dad who seems to be incapable of make a correct decision and having his parents right across the street just seems to create an even higher level of ignorant behaviors.
This man is mocked by his small children in one episode, is completely insensitive to his wife in almost every episode and lacks the ability to put his wife first, above his mom pretty consistently. It is less than entertaining, from my perspective, and neither my husband or I really care for the show because it puts men, in general, in such a poor light.
But this show has a lot of company when it comes to creating an image of the ignorant Modern Day Man. There is Homer Simpson, The Family Guy, many sitcom dads and the commercials are probably the most offensive all.
By allowing this type of programming into our homes and the minds of our little ones, we are tearing down the image they have of their dads. If you add in the shows that depict men as temporary in the lives of their families, either due to work or divorce you will have hacked away at that image a little more.
Now, in this world we have all kinds of programming that is shaping the minds of our little ones and negative imagery of men and fathers abounds.
Add in real life divorces, in which dads can only be part time parents and whether our children are exposed to this directly or through friends and/or family members it effects their image of men and fathers. And again we end up with a negative image of Modern Day Man.
Another contributing factor to this negative imagery are the awful things that these little ears hear. As women (or perhaps even as we) talk about husbands, whether their own or their friends, these little kids ears are listening.
With the column of negative Modern Day Man imagery our children are being bombarded by, it is safe to assume that they will have very little regard for the male/father image what so ever.
We basically create an image of men that says they lack intellect, they are inept, incapable, unloving, selfish and self centered and we wonder why our boys live up to that image and why our girls turn out to be angry, hateful women.
And the enemy wins! Because by allowing our children to be exposed to anything that diminishes the image of fathers, we open the door for the enemy to sweep in and start casting disparaging ideas about our Heavenly Father. And he builds up, in our children, an attitude that says “if biological dads are this awful, why would I want anything to do with a Heavenly Father That has even great power and opportunity to hurt me?”
Almost every child that was ever born can speak to an area in which their earthly father fell short. They are not perfect. But our Heavenly Father is!
Earthly fathers may desert us, but so may our moms (mine did). Earthly fathers will have varying degrees of intellect, but so will our moms. Earthly fathers may cause us harm, but so might our moms. The negative traits that the world paints into the Modern Day Man are all possessed by women as well, they just don’t talk about that, because most of it is rooted in sin and that is the last thing they want to talk about unless it’s the punchline in a joke.
We were created in the image of God, sin is the attribute that we have that He does not. Sin is how our parents, both dads and moms, typically fall short. Sometimes it is theirs and some times it is ours. Sometimes we blame them for the adult sins that we choose to commit. But you can only hide behind that for just so long. I think that however, is a devotional for another day ; D
Our Heavenly Father will never dessert us (Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:8), He has wisdom beyond our comprehension (Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33) and He will never harm us (For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11).
Let’s teach our children the Truth, that their fathers were created in God’s image. But that sin (which we all commit) is why they may fail us occasionally, not a lack of love for us.
Let’s teach our children what the true image of God looks like. (“Raise up your children in the way that they should go; even when they are old they will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6.) Lets teach them about the magnitude of His love for them. (“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God ! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1.) Their eternal lives depend on it.
I pray that today we would stop buying into the imagery that the enemy has painted of the Modern Day Man. I pray that we would stop robbing God of glory by allowing the world to think that his creation (the one created in His image) is so ridiculous and inferior. I pray that we would honor God and raise our children to understand what a perfect and loving Heavenly Father we have. I pray that we would honor our fathers and mothers the way that God asks us to (Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.) not because they deserve it, but because He deserves our obedience.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and if you have a poor image of who He is, based on what the world says a father and/or Modern Day Man looks like, I pray that you would give our Heavenly Father the opportunity to heal your hurts, any feelings of abandonment, and to change the image you have of what a father is and how they fall short. Because, He is a Good Good Father and you have never known a love like the love He is waiting to pour out on your. Please, right now, go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Once you have prayed that prayer, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-n-loved.com and let me know so that I can pray for you and help you grow in your knowledge of and relationship with our Precious Savior, Jesus Christ.
Luv Ya,
