Malachi 4.6 ends with He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.

This is the last verse of the Old Testament. Amazing! The Bible begins with the glory, power and majesty of God as He speaks and all that is or ever was comes into existence by the Word of His command. It continues to record the drama of men as they live with God and without God and how God continues to love, reprove and restore men back to Him.

That same document records so much drama, so much history, so much wisdom and so much passion, yet it ends with a rather bizarre and strange conclusion. Fathers must develop children and children must respond properly to their fathers or else God will quit on the earth and all who live upon it. Wow.

Father’s Day should be that day when we consider carefully how well we have done at focusing on the raising of our children. Our work is not to exasperate them by ignoring them or estrange them by inconsistency but to train them in the ways of God from the Word of God. This work is of vital importance because when the children of God look up to heaven and pray they are to say, ‘Father….’

Our view of God is greatly influenced by our experience of dad. God is serious, fathers must focus on their family, because all people must focus on loving Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. We are the men, as fathers, who make that transition as smooth as possible…or not.

Make every day father’s day by taking a part of the day to talk to your children about their Father in heaven even as you pray and work to reflect more and more of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control toward your children.