I recently saw Red Dawn, the one from 1984 (sometimes it takes me a while to get around to seeing a movie). I love the premise of the movie, and the movie itself was good, and I never want to see it again. (It was just too heavy for me, and it causes me to think about some things that I and other Christian family men are already being forced to think about. [Plus the thing with the fighter pilot and Lea Thompson's character was weird.]) Of all of the haunting moments in that story, one in particular keeps replaying in my mind. At one point the boys sneak into town and find their father being held in a re-education camp. He comes to them at the fence and they have a few moments together through the chain-link. He looks at his two sons, who are both failing at fighting back tears, and tells them: "I was hard on you when you was growin' up...Now, you can see why..." Based on the context we know that he is referring to his teaching them to fend for themselves, and how to survive.
All fathers teach their children. We teach them what is most important to us, one way or another. I love to read Paul's writings to Timothy (not his biological son, but a son in the faith), where he reminds him of the things that are the most important. Paul teaches him nuts and bolts, like qualifications for ministers, the structure and function of the family, etc. He also teaches him all-encompassing principles and wisdom to govern his life and ministry. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:12-14 that he suffered as a minister of the gospel, but that he was not ashamed. Paul said: "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." He went on to urge Timothy to "retain the standard of sound words," which he had heard from Paul, "in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus," and to "guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to [him]." Like the father in Red Dawn, Paul worked to teach Timothy what he would need to know for the day when Paul would no longer be there.
My Daddy taught me what I would need for such a time, and like all things true, it's timeless. The best thing that Daddy ever taught me was to know the Bible for myself. There is no substitute for first-hand experience, the knowledge that comes from time spent and life lived together with the one God. That's how Paul was able to say that he knew whom he had believed, and Daddy wanted the same for us. Gentlemen, we have to teach our kids what is most important to us, and what is most important to us had better be what is most important to the Lord if we want our children to be able to stand.