[CS-FSLUG] NI: ECELLENT!!
Fred A. Miller
fmiller at lightlink.com
Thu Sep 1 14:43:44 CDT 2005
A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#4864 - "What They Forgot to Tell Us Providers"
Ephesians 5:25
Listen to the audio broadcast!
http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ramhurl?p=pnm&f=/rhm/sounds/awwy/awwy4864.rm
I was teaching at a training school for people entering youth ministry
when I learned about a call home that must have been heartbreaking for the
dad who made it. The school was three weeks long, and dad had already been
gone for over two weeks. He was seriously missing his wife and two-year-old
son, and they were missing him. After waiting patiently in the long line that
formed every day after classes at the lobby pay phone, he finally got to talk
to his wife. When he asked how his son was doing, she said, "Not too well,
honey. Yesterday he came up to me and said, 'Mommy, is Daddy dead?'" Ouch!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about
"What They Forgot to Tell Us Providers."
That little guy was reflecting what many a child feels, the
"missingness" of the man in his life. Not long ago I was talking with a
friend who has been looking for a job that wasn't seasonal and sporadic like
the work he's been doing, and something that would give him and his family a
better and steadier income. He was on the verge of committing himself to a
career opportunity that would mean better money but would take him away from
home for long weeks at a time. When I questioned the idea, he said, "Well, I
need to provide for my family." Well, we guys were raised on that.
My friend was right about being a provider for his family. In 1
Timothy 5:8, the Bible says, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives,
and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse
than an unbeliever." Strong words. But that's only part of the story. As my
friend was considering a career that would provide financially but take him
away from his family, he may have been missing a point someone forgot to tell
us guys about being the provider. It's about much more than providing
materially. Our word for today from the Word of God reveals the rest of the
provider story.
Ephesians 5, beginning with verse 25, tells husbands, "Love your
wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make
her holy - and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain
or wrinkle." God has established the man as provider, but of much more than a
roof and groceries. It's clear that he's to provide emotionally and
spiritually for his wife - to nurture her, to love and support and encourage
her - helping her become "radiant."
A man is called by God to be the emotional and spiritual provider for
his children, as well. Ephesians 6:4 says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your
children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the
Lord." Dads are trusted by the Heavenly Father to be their child's coach, and
umpire, and biggest fan, and encourager. When my friend realized a new career
would rob his children of that, he changed his course to a job that would
provide, not just the things his family needs, but the man his family needs.
For a man to be what the Bible calls a provider, he's got to give more
than money to his family - he has to give himself. To love, to nurture, to
develop, to stay in touch with their ever-changing needs, you have to be
there. Many a man has excused himself from the hard but rewarding work of
building his family by hiding behind the provider myth - that all is well if
I just provide materially for them. That's the easy part of being your
family's provider. The big assignment is to be consistently available for
what your family needs most: your hugs, your advice, your attention, your
praise, your laughter, your shoulder.
Many a man who has paid the mortgage and stocked the fridge has, in
heaven's eyes and his family's eyes, failed as a provider because he didn't
provide himself to them. The past can't be changed, but the future is yet to
be written. Be the total provider your family so desperately needs, and make
the rest of your days together the best of your days.
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"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft is a daily radio challenge, with
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Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Permission to distribute this material via
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Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Reprinted with permission. "A Word With
You" is a radio outreach of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
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