Happy Father’s Day! Dads, sometimes you need an encouraging word, but sometimes you need a little kick in the seat of the pants to keep you going in the right direction. Today we’ll jump ahead to Ephesians 6:4 and look at two aspects of parenting: the NEGATIVE (don’t provoke them to wrath) and the POSITIVE (bring them up). Here are a few thoughts we will cover from author David Cloud’s book The Prison Epistles:

Following are some of the ways that fathers can provoke their children to wrath:

by being unkind, uncompassionate, inconsiderate, severe, harsh

by being unreasonable, unfair

by being heavy handed, punishing more severely than the occasion deserves, “using a sledgehammer to drive home a tack”

by disciplining in haste or in anger

by not explaining the rules properly

by unannounced rules that are made known only after the child has broken them

by being inconsistent in enforcing rules

by having too many rules

by not understanding the children and by having unrealistic expectations

by being distant

by unremitting criticism

by hypocrisy

by neglect

by not listening and communicating properly

by breaking one’s promises

by comparing the children with others or comparing one child with another

by favoritism

by insults

by treating the children’s mother unkindly. It has been said that one of the most important things that a man can do for his children is to love his wife. When a man loves his wife, the children see that marriage is a good thing, something to be desired. They respect their father. They see that obedience to God’s Word is desirable.

Our society needs you to be a godly dad. Keep up the good work.  -Pastor Ryan