Walking In Faith - Dad as Disciple-Maker: Forming Faith, Hope, and Love at Home

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NLT)

We all have faith in something. As a kid growing up in the eighties, I—like every other kid—wanted to be Evel Knievel. I wasn’t jumping the Grand Canyon, but I built the biggest ramp I could using scrap wood I found around our house and neighborhood. I had all the faith that I would ride faster and jump farther than anyone in my neighborhood. The result? One bent rim. One flat tire. One bloody lip and several minutes where I thought I would never breath again.

In his letters to the Corinthians, Paul defines faith as an unshakable confidence in an unseen God. A confidence that comes to us from God as a gift. Faith in what is unseen does not come naturally. In our youth group growing up, kids would sometimes pull away someone’s chair when they were standing, so when the person sat down – trusting the chair was still there – they would fall in dramatic fashion. They sat with confidence because they had seen the chair before it was removed.

What Paul calls us to is radically different. He is saying that in a body growing old and a world marred by sin, we can still have confidence to teach our kids to walk in faith. Not because of our strength, but because of the unbreakable, unmovable, unshakable character of God.

Paul is saying you’ll lose faith if you focus on the wrong things. If you put your faith in money that can be stolen or a job that can be taken away, you will lose heart. But if you fix your eyes on the character and nature of God, you’ll be steady – even when everything around you is falling apart.

As dads, when we walk in faith, we model to our kids what faith looks like in action. This doesn’t mean ignoring the sorrows of the world, but rather living in a way that focuses on truth. Help your kids focus on the truth that they are loved, cared for, and being made new every day in a world slowly turning to dust.

Faith says: I see this world and there is much I love about it, but I don’t cling to it too tightly. I enjoy it with open hands, knowing that everything in this life is a gift given to me. And one day it will all be taken away. What transcends this reality is the undeniable truth that from my very first breath to my last – I am loved by a God who cannot be shaken.

These truths produce two things in us:

1. Deep Gratitude. When I understand that everything good in this life is also temporary, I can still enjoy these gifts – knowing they come from an eternal God.
2. Forever Confidence. As today’s Scripture says “For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” Our confidence is not fragile like a makeshift ramp of an eight-year-old kid. Our faith is firm and secure in Jesus – who holds and sustains it. This gives us a confidence that nothing can shake.

Prayer:

Lord, help me trust in you. Help me to focus on you and not on the broken things around me. Teach me to show my kids how to trust you because you are a God who can always be trusted. Help my kids, even at a young age, to find you – though unseen – infinitely more beautiful than the shiny yet fading things around them. We can’t do this on our own. We need your grace and mercy. Help us to walk in faith. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Dad Challenge:

1. Ask your kids: “What are some things we enjoy now that won’t last forever?” Then follow up with: “What’s something about God that never changes?” Let it lead to a short conversation about eternal things.
2. Next time something goes wrong—a flat tire, a lost job opportunity, a broken appliance—pause and say out loud: “This is frustrating, but I know God is good and still in control.” Let your kids hear you anchor your confidence in Him.