Randy

SaveCalifornia.com Blog//

5 Godly Ways to Be a Good Dad

Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 8:17 am |

How can a man become a godly man, and how can a father become a good dad? My ideas for the regeneration of fathers in America include telling guys to turn off the TV, block the internet, get 9 hours of sleep, read a good fathering book to teach you, submit to Jesus in everything, discover your identity in Christ (if you’re already saved), meditate daily on God’s word, shepherd your children’s hearts, and find wiser men to mentor you.

Even better is this excellent and challenging advice from Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle:

5 Godly Ways to Be a Good Dad by Pastor Mark Driscoll — One of the greatest joys in my life is being a dad to my kids. Over the years, I’ve learned many lessons about being a dad, but one of the most important is that in order to be a good dad, you must be a good Christian.

By being a good Christian, you develop a relationship with your heavenly Father, the perfect Dad, that informs everything you do as a dad. And by cultivating a deep understanding of the Scriptures, you grow in wisdom, grace, and ability to raise your kids well and to the glory of God.

To pursue that goal, we must worship God first by repenting of sin and coming to him by faith for grace to love him, as an example and pattern for our kids and, God willing, grandkids. As we daily commit ourselves to his ways and being his sons, we’re instructed on how to care for our children and lead them to worship God with us.

Here are some practical ways to love your kids like God, our Father, loves us:

1. Delight in your kids before discipline.
In Proverbs 3:11–12 the father says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Before any father disciplines his children, he is commanded to delight in them. Practically, this means that most of a father’s time is spent enjoying his children, encouraging his children, laughing with his children, being affectionate with his children, and enjoying his children so that there is a deep bond of love and joy between the children and their dad.

Part of that love includes a father disciplining his children as needed to keep them on a path of wisdom and righteousness. This pattern is to be modeled by the father who has God as his Father and gladly receives instruction and correction from God the Father and other authorities God has placed over him (e.g., church elders and other leaders).

Therefore, a godly father models submission to authority and the welcoming of correction by repenting of his own sin, receiving forgiveness, and walking in restored intimacy with God the Father by empowering grace. All of this is the essence of love, as sin leads to death and hell, and discipline leads to repentance, which points us back to life and God. Practically, this means that a good father lives out the gospel every day in fellowship with God and his child, and that he knows what to do about sin in the life of his child because he’s been dealing with his own sin in his own life first.

2. Protect your kids by fearing God.
Proverbs 14:26 says, “In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.” Sadly, our world is not a very safe place for children, as the statistics on neglect, abuse, molestation, fornication, and rape indicate. But God says that the safest place for children is with a man who fears the Lord.

Men who fear God take God’s wisdom and use their masculine strength to create a fortress of protection and provision around their homes so that their wives and children can live freely and happily under their care. Practically, this means that a godly father does not allow his children to be unsupervised at the homes of people he does not know, is very careful to oversee any dating done by his daughters, and goes to great lengths to ensure that safety is pursued in everything from where the family lives to who they are in close friendship with and who is welcomed into their home.

3. Be a man for your kids and live righteously.
Proverbs 20:7 says, “The righteous who walks in his integrity—blessed are his children after him!” Similarly, Paul tells the Corinthians that when he was a boy he acted like one, but when he became a man he put childish ways behind him (1 Cor. 13:11). It is imperative that Christian fathers repent of their childish ways (i.e., laziness, lust, whining, drunkenness, juvenile antics, neglecting family in the pursuit of hobbies, foolish spending, and so on) because their sins impinge upon the lives of their children and grandchildren. A Christian father should aspire to live in such a way as to be a righteous example to his children, which produces a path of blessing that flows to the children from the faithfulness of their father as they follow his loving leadership.

4. Work hard for your kids.
Lazy fathers are disobedient to God but want to have children who are obedient to them. Such fathers may speak good wisdom, but it is overshadowed by the loudness of the foolish hypocrisy in their lives. Proverbs 26:7 stands as a warning to such men, saying, “Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools.”

Wisdom is not merely what a father says, but also his lifestyle and the degree of congruence between his words and his actions. Foolish fathers say things such as, “Well, don’t do as I do, do as I say.” What they mean is, “I’m a complete hypocrite, but do what I tell you to do anyways.” Proverbs says that these men speak with no authority and so their children ignore them or mock them as funny and foolish hypocrites. Tragically, these children often face the most devastating teen years because they have no wise father to turn to in a culture of folly, and themselves fall prey to many sins and pains.

5. Create a legacy for your kids.
While fools are consumed with the present, wisdom looks to the future. Proverbs 17:6 leans us into the future, saying, “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.”

The point God is teaching here is that young men should be thinking about what kind of grandfather they aspire to be before they even take a wife, because they have a lot of work to do to get there. Godly men aspire to be both good fathers and good grandfathers, like Jonathan Edwards, America’s greatest theologian, who prayed each day for five generations of his offspring in hopes of being a patriarch like Abraham. Wisdom enables a father to see that the way he lives affects the kind of children he raises, which affects the kind of children they raise, and so on.

My response to Jerry Brown’s budget veto: Game on again!

Thursday, June 16, 2011, 5:09 pm |

I’m glad that Governor Jerry Brown, who likes higher taxes and fees, has vetoed the Democrats’ budget bill because he either doesn’t like the way it was done or doesn’t like what it would do to his legacy.

While Democrat Controller John Chiang worries about his public image regarding whether to keep issuing legislators’ paychecks (there’s nothing in Prop. 25 that says the governor has to sign the budget bill for them to be paid), Brown’s veto means it’s “game on again” to stop higher taxes and fees extorted from California families.

On June 30, the abnormally-high sales tax and Vehicle License Fee (car tax) increases will expire. Brown doesn’t want taxes and fees to go down, but wants them extended for years. Brown said today, “We need four Republican votes and in the next several days I’m going to do everything I can — I’ll move heaven and earth — to get those votes.”

ALERT: If you know the true Power of heaven, fight against the tax-and-fee hikes of Jerry Brown and the Democrats. Right now, please again call and email Sacramento to demand “no more taxes or fees at the state or local levels!” Especially call the at-risk Republicans.

Here’s today’s SaveCalifornia.com news release responding on Brown’s veto:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2011

Response to Governor Brown’s Budget Veto
by SaveCalifornia.com President Randy Thomasson

Sacramento, California — In response to today’s veto by Governor Jerry Brown of the Democrats’ budget bill, Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a non-profit, non-partisan statewide organization that promotes moral virtues for the common good, released the following statement:

“Jerry Brown may like higher taxes and fees, but he’s doesn’t like them in an obvious sham budget or in a way that makes him look bad. Whether his veto is for the sake of image or principle doesn’t matter as much as the fact that California families have been saved, for the time being, from more taxes and fees that take away their hard-earned money for a wasteful, greedy government to devour. We call on principled Californians to rise up and urge their state legislators — especially Republican assemblymembers and senators who can stop the Democrats’ money grab — to resist any and all tax hikes or fee hikes at the state and local levels.”

SaveCalifornia.com has identified tens of billions in government waste, and for the last several months has been calling on concerned Californians to demand an end to tax and fee hikes.

— end —

Act now: Call and email Sacramento to demand
“no more taxes or fees at the state or local levels!”

Democrat politicians pass higher taxes and fees

Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 10:26 pm |

Well, they did it. The Democrats that control the California Legislature have approved additional taxes and fees upon taxed-to-the-max California families.

And they did it just to ensure they wouldn’t lose a day’s pay under a new, voter-approved rule punishing legislators for late budget. Well, now a budget’s on time, but it’s bad. That’s obvious to State Capitol watchers, including veteran Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters, who writes, “Did Democratic legislators accomplish anything on the state budget crisis Wednesday other than protect their paychecks? Probably not.”

If Democrat Governor Jerry Brown signs this “sham” budget, which contains no structural reform, you will have to endure:

A quarter-cent increase in the sales tax you pay
A $12 surchage on your annual Vehicle License Fee or car tax
A new sales tax on every online purchase you make
A $150 fee each year on property owners in approx. 1/3 of the state (areas where the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection provides fire services)

This is an obvious disappointment because the abnormally-high state sales tax was scheduled to decrease one full percentage point, and the very high Vehicle License Fee (car tax) scheduled to be reduced by nearly half, on July 1. Instead, two weeks from now, the sales tax will decrease by three-quarters of a percent, the car tax will decrease but have a new surcharge for you to pay, and most Californians will either be paying more taxes through their online purchases or with “fire protection fees” that are redundant with state and county taxes.

Overall, if this bad budget is signed, you will be paying lower taxes overall than you did under the massive tax-and-fee hikes imposed back in February 2009, which are set to expire. Yet because of the Democrat politicians’ irresponsibility, foolishness, and thievery, you are still going to pay hundreds of dollars per year in new taxes. The Democrat legislators couldn’t stand losing a day’s pay under the new rule, so they’re punishing California families and individuals instead.

Take Action: Call Governor Jerry Brown first thing in the morning at 916-445-2841. Leave your message urging him to “Veto the higher taxes and fees. Let the people vote like you promised.”

SaveCalifornia.com and others were successful in lobbying Republican state legislators not to support higher taxes and fees. So be glad about that and pray to God that expected lawsuits are also successful. And tell people you know about the Democrat money grab. Here’s our SaveCalifornia.com news release issued earlier today:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2011

Response of SaveCalifornia.com President Randy Thomasson
to the Democrats’ tax and fee hikes

Sacramento, California — In response to today’s passing of additional tax and fee hikes by the Democrat-controlled California Legislature, Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a non-profit, non-partisan statewide organization that promotes moral virtues for the common good, released the following statement:

“Hard-working Californians who love their families now have another reason to be disgusted with their state government. The Democrats’ budget takes more money from people who earned it — just so these politicians won’t miss a day’s pay. Californians are witnessing corruption, and have more reason than ever to oppose corrupt politicians. I hope lawsuits to enforce the two-thirds vote on taxes and fees are successful, because this blatant money-grab needs to be struck down.”

SaveCalifornia.com has identified tens of billions in government waste, and for the last several months has been calling on concerned Californians to demand an end to tax and fee hikes.

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