“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” Col.3:21

I am struck more and more with the power of a father to influence his children for good or evil. It is my personal observation that a father is to provide a sense of significance for his children. He does this by paying attention and listening to them, teaching them things, praising them, and giving them healthy physical affection.

Mothers, of course, have a very important role too, as they are to provide a sense of security to the children, nurturing and caring for them.

Just this week two sad events brought this home to me again. A young man whose father abandoned him as a small child has committed suicide. He often said, “I’m useless, I’m nothing.” This was the emotional legacy his father left him which led him to discouragement and despair. The second was a conversation with a person who was sexually abused by his father as a child and is constantly tormented by feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred.

These two fathers utterly ruined the lives of their children–a strong warning to us as parents to love our children unconditionally, to spend time with them, affirming their worth and treating them with wisdom and purity—to encourage, not discourage them. Just like our heavenly Father does with us!