READ: Matthew 25:31-40
«For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;» - Matthew 25:35, NASB
Sometimes, biological fathers are not available because they are dead, divorced or have simply abandoned their children. Many people grow up in non-ideal situations and God raises people to do the work of fathering.
One day, I stood in grief over the dead body of one of my pastors, desperately trying to console his trembling wife. One of the doctors at the hospital spoke to me. I will never forget what he said. He said to me, «Don’t worry. I know you will be thinking, ‘Why should such a good person leave us now ?’». He went on, «But you see, death is part of life. We do not understand everything that God does.» He continued, «My father died at the age of twenty-five when I was in my mother’s womb. It must have been very sad for my mother. I never saw my own father. Perhaps I would not have become a world famous surgeon if my biological father had lived.»
This man had achieved this great feat through the help of a “substitute” father. A substitute father is someone who steps in to father a child when the real father is not around. Sometimes, substitute fathers are even better than biological fathers.
There are two lessons we can learn from this. Don’t be afraid to die. God will take care of your children. He will raise up substitute fathers who may be even better fathers than you are. Don’t hold back love if you have a chance to adopt a child or care for somebody’s child. You may be the substitute father that God is raising to care for a fatherless child.
Related Topics : Father And Child, Dag Heward-Mills,
