AS YOU DO, NOT AS YOU SAY

It’s so touching for me to see a young man on a bus standing up and letting an older lady or gentleman sit in his place. That warms my heart like nothing else. He’ll only learn that type of thing from his dad. If his father does it, he’ll do it too. If his father does not, he probably won’t either.

In my opinion, the best way of teaching your son anything in life is by example, and I think a farming background is probably one of the best ways to do it. 

When you want to use an axe, you say to your son, “This is how you use a felling axe.” You cut down a tree and he’ll know more or less how to do it.

If you want to teach your son how to plough, you need to get onto the tractor with him, set the plough and plough for half an hour or an hour. Then allow your son to take over. There’ll be no argument, no fighting, no discussion, because you have shown him by example.

However, if you haven’t been on a tractor for twenty years, and you try to impress your son by telling him what a good ploughman you were, when you can’t even set a plough any longer, you cannot expect your son to readily submit to and respect you. You are actually a liar and a hypocrite. However, if you tell him the way to do it, he is more likely to respect and submit to you.

Most of all, if you can show your son how to respect his future wife by the example in which you love and respect your own wife, he will do exactly the same. He will love her and respect her. 

If you love your wife, cherish her, and treat her like the princess she is, you can rest assured that your son will do the same. He will treat his wife like a lady. He’ll protect her, he’ll discipline his children, and the house will be a peaceful place in which to live.

These devotions were compiled from FATHERS AND SONS by Angus Buchan © Christian Art Publishers