7 Creative Ways to Honour a Father

I want to exhort you today on 7 creative ways to honour a father. I believe at this time of the year we should take time and honour the male parents in our lives.

Who is a father?

A father is the male parent of a child; so then your father is your male parent.

By extension, however, there are many types of fathers;

• Biological/surrogate father:

Your biological father is the man whose seed or sperm gave birth to you. A surrogate father is a biological father except he has no legal rights to the child.

• A stepfather:

A stepfather is a man married to your mother.

• Father-in-law:

Father-in-law is the father of your wife or spouse.

• A foster/ surrogate father:

A foster or this surrogate father is a man who takes care of a child when one or both parents are unavailable.

• Your spiritual father:

Your spiritual father is the person who gives birth to you by the gospel.

Why should you honour these men?

There may be a thousand and one reasons to celebrate all these men in your life, but more importantly, do so because the word of God commands us to. It is not optional; it is a must. We must honour these men, not just once in a year but in all of our lives both in their lifetime and after their decease.

[Ephesians 6:2‭-‬4 KJV] “Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

To honour your father and mother is a commandment with a promise; so that it shall be well with you and your days may be long on earth. One of the major causes of failure and premature death is children dishonouring their parents.

In what creative ways can you honour your father?

There are many creative ways of honouring your father:

1. Never be your father’s judge. Look up to him, be inspired by the story of his life (See 1 Corinthians 4:1-5¹, Isaiah 51:1-3²).
2. Don’t be puffed up against your brethren (See 1 Corinthians 4:6-7³).
3. Don’t reign as a king while your father lives as a pauper (See 1 Corinthians 4:8-14⁴).
4. Be a follower of him (See 1 Corinthians 4:15-21⁵).
5. Never expose or mock your father’s shame or nakedness.
6. Advance your father’s legacy. Plant a tree in his memory. Start a foundation to his honour, establish an annual lecture to honour him, build something in his honour.
7. Make choices that a godly father would be proud of.

I believe with all of my heart that if we learn to honour our fathers; it shall be well with us and our days shall be long.

I love you

Pastor Simpe Bediako

Referenced Scriptures

1. 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (KJV): Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. ↩︎
2. Isaiah 51:1-3 (KJV): Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. ↩︎
3. 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 (KJV): And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? ↩︎
4. 1 Corinthians 4:8-14 (KJV): Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. ↩︎
5. 1 Corinthians 4:15-21 (KJV): For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? ↩︎