Daddy…You Must First Do Your Homework!

And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Luke 12:39

It takes a strong and a good man to set priorities and to protect his family. If you ask most men in America what is the most important thing in his life most will answer, “My family.” However if we look closely at what they do, where they spend their time and spend their money, you will find a disconnect. One’s values depend not on what one says, but what we do.

“No! … First, you must complete your homework!”

How many times have I heard this as a child and how many times have I said it to my own children. “Before you can go out and play, you must finish your homework.” Men, you have work to do at home before you can go out to and work or play.

First things first. Your homework must take priority. After your relationship with your God, must come your relationship with your family. You may be successful on your job and provide for your family many of the luxuries of life, but if you lose your relationship with your wife and your children – you are a failure. On the other hand, if you barely eke out a living but live in the love of God and in the respect of your family – you are a great success.

Our culture and society is not a friend to your family. A loving husband and a good dad must stand between that which would destroy what he holds as value. ‘Smart phones’ are everywhere. Your children now have them. Messages are coming into your home by videos and social media that your family should not be viewing. It is the father’s responsibility to monitor it. There are values on sexuality and family structure that are not biblical. It is the father’s responsibility to rectify what is not sanctioned by God.

Father, you have homework to do.

We also have a spiritual enemy that would destroy your family and your personal walk with God. He knows if he can destroy the good man, he can destroy the home, which is the stronghold for God.

If the man is a good man, Satan knows he must get to him first – before he can get to the wife and the children. To get to the good man he knows he must take away his armor and his weapons – his Bible reading and his prayer life. One advantage Satan has is timing, the good man does not know the time of the attack. Satan knows that even a good man will relax at times. A little slumber and a little sleep comes to the best; but when it happens, the enemy is there to take advantage.

Another advantage the enemy of the home has is he can choose the spot of the attack. I believe that even good men have weak areas that make them vulnerable.

“…Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” Hebrews 12:1-2.

The weak area is usually the last thing that one puts on the altar…and then is the first thing that he takes up when he relaxes and when he is discouraged. You can be sure that Satan will discover what this weak spot is.

Sampson was the strongest man who ever lived – yet he had a flaw. He had a weakness for ‘strange women’. His enemy, the Philistines, used this weakness to find and to destroy his strength. Notice, these women were not of his own people. His father warned him, but he would not listen.

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” II Corinthians 6:14.

Husband, father – if you are not careful, Satan will do the same to you. Satan wants you to cultivate relationships outside the family and outside the church. He desires to bind you with the thongs of materialism and the cares of this life. He will tie you with ropes of wrongful and harmful habits. He wishes to cut your spiritual hair and leave you blind, ashamed and grinding the grain of the enemy. While you are thus in spiritual prison, your home and your country is left defenseless.

If you complete your homework and if you still have time – you can go out and play.