By Rev. Daniel Yaw

Introduction
This month we celebrate the next member of the family – fathers!  It is going to be fathers’ day.  While there is much joy that fathers are also remembered and honoured, it is also a reminder of what our role is.
 
As I thought of that, a verse came to me in Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you? In the book of Micah it is clearly written how simple this is. “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
 
I then also ask the question, “What would the Lord require of us as fathers? Or men in general?”
 
I would like to share what is in my heart as we make our journey of faith with our Lord.  May I summarize a few things as a word of blessing to all the men.
 
To love the Lord
I think the first thing required of us all is to love the Lord our God.  There is already so many distractions in the world.  I remembered the first time I came to know the Lord, when the love of God filled my heart.  I thought of nothing but the Lord.  Every Sunday is a day I look forward to – to enter into God’s house and to worship Him with all other believers.
 
I looked forward to studying the Bible more than studying my schoolbooks.  The love just overwhelmed within me.
 
If that is one thing the Lord would ask of us, it is this devotion to Him.  The greatest command, Jesus said, is to love God will all that we are – our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength, our attention, our pursuit, and others. 
 
To keep us faithful, to enable us to be models, to cause us to be a blessing, it all begins with our utmost love for God.  Is that not what the Lord require of us?  I pray that we will always grow in love and fall in love with our Lord over and over again.
 
To love our loved ones
The next thing I would like to bless us is that capacity to love those whom God gave in our lives.
Naturally, that would be those who are closest to us besides the Lord.  It begins with our spouse, then our children, then our loved ones, and finally our extended family of God.
 
The second greatest commandment mentioned by our Lord is to love one another as Christ loved us. 
 
Examined closely, we know that this is directed to the disciples and applying that, it is directed to all of us who are Christians, to love one another.
 
As fathers or men in general, let us remember that we ought to love those who are close to us first.  Our spouse deserved all the attention they needed.  Our children must be loved and nurtured.  Our loved ones must be loved and taken care of.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ must be loved in all consideration.
 
Afterall, it is also the mark of discipleship as Christ said that by this will others know that we are His disciples.
 
Love is really a process to be cultivated.  It begins with the heart and progresses to our attitudes and mind and then shown in our action.  May our hearts be gripped always with this phrase, “ONE ANOTHER”.  God has made us in such a way that we must live interdependent on each other.  In short, we need each other to journey together successfully.
 
To love the Lost
Finally, if our hearts are to right, we must love the lost.  That is the heartbeat of God – who desires that none shall perish without knowing him, but that all men be saved.
 
This is also commanded of our Lord in the great commission, that we go and preach the gospel, making disciples of ALL nations.
 
The heartbeat of God was illustrated in the story of the lost sheep among the 100.  The shepherd likened to our God, would go all out to search of this one lost sheep (though it seems insignificant and no great loss to the shepherd).  He did that because He loved.
 
In our daily interaction, how do we view those who do not know God?  Do we feel a surge of passion and longing that they would come to know God?
 
Conclusion 
So, on this day, I wished all fathers a very blessed Father’s Day.  I wished you God’s favour as you think of these 3 things – love for the Lord, love for the Loved ones, and love for the Lost.  To all the men, this is what I believe the Lord required of us today.