Father’s Day is an annual Sunday holiday that occurs each year in June. It was created to celebrate the men who lead our families. The Lord God designed humanity’s family structure to be led by the father, and Father’s Day reflects how we honor our heavenly Father by honoring our earthly fathers. The fifth commandment tells us to honor our father and mother (Exodus 20:12); therefore, it is right and fitting to honor our earthly fathers as commanded by our Father in heaven.
What Is the Origin and History of Father’s Day?
Even though fathers don’t traditionally garner the same sentimental excitement as mothers, a holiday celebrating them began relatively soon after the introduction of Mother’s Day.
Father’s Day originated in West Virginia in 1908 as a one-time commemoration of 362 men who perished in a 1907 coal mine explosion. The following year, in Spokane, Washington, Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, sought to establish an official day for fathers after her pastor’s Mother’s Day sermon. She canvassed all the local charities and government offices to gather support for her idea. As a result, Washington celebrated the first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910. The Spokane Ministerial Alliance eagerly embraced her idea, and that first Father’s Day was supported and celebrated by Spokane churches.
The holiday gained slow but eager momentum, and, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson gave credence to the holiday with a remote unfurling of a flag in Spokane. Afterward, in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge advocated for the holiday and recommended state governments observe Father’s Day, but it wasn’t until 1972 that Father’s Day became an official U.S. holiday. Today we celebrate Father’s Day every third Sunday of June.
Though Father’s Day originated as a sentimental yet secular holiday, the Christian ideals behind it are prominent. Like many others of our holidays, writer Dan Graves tells us, “Father’s Day, too, is linked to Christianity in that it was founded to celebrate the ideals of fatherhood set forth in Scripture…William Jackson Smart’s self-sacrificing love for his children led to a national day of recognition for all fathers. We have a grateful daughter to thank for that.”
How Christians Can Celebrate Father’s Day
Because we know God as our Father (Matthew 6:9), we can celebrate our earthly fathers as a remembrance of how we all have a heavenly Father who loves us and desires the best for us (Romans 8:28-29). The best thing is that we can glorify the Lord when we honor our fathers, not only on Father’s Day but all through the year.
Early in the Bible, the Lord God gave us the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). Honoring our father and mother is the fifth commandment, and the first to address our horizontal relationships (The first four are vertical in the respect that they are about how we are to worship and honor God). This, the fifth commandment, speaks of the importance of family relationships. God is a relational Being; He has been in communion with the other members of the Trinity from eternity past and future (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).
How can we honor our fathers on Father’s Day in a way that glorifies the Lord? Here are a few suggestions:
*Gather as a family and pray for your father. A wonderful posture would be to encircle him as you pray. *Have one child read Dad’s favorite verse aloud and pray through it, too.
*Give him a special card for his day. Better yet, give him a handmade card, and don’t worry about your creative skills; it’s the heart and love behind it that matters.
*Attend a church service together as a family. Your family is a living picture of Christ’s kingdom on earth (Ephesians 4:15-16).
*Enjoy fellowship with other families from your church; they are our forever families.
*Take time for a day away with your dad to enjoy each other’s company and so you can have time to tell him what he means to you.
Father’s Day Prayers
We all have varied histories with our fathers. Some children have been raised by strong Christian men. Others have a history with their fathers that speaks of negligence and abuse. Some don’t even know their father, while others have been raised by a man they think is good but holds no salvation in Christ.
No matter what your history, you can honor either your father or another father who has made an impact on your life. Pray for the father figure the Lord has placed in your life, and thank God He is our Father.
Personal Reflections and Christian Lessons
When I think of my father, I tend to chuckle. He wasn’t the smartest person, but he was the hardest worker I’ve ever known. He had a soft heart and wanted the best for his family, even though he wasn’t a believer in Christ. He was stubborn, though, and countered me many times when I shared the gospel with him. He shouted at me and hung up on me often, but I persisted because I love the Lord and wanted my dad to also. I learned much about God’s faithfulness and His timing when my dad approached the end of his earthly life. How could I honor him in a way that glorified God?
Anecdotes about fathers abound; this is one of mine. Dad was in a nursing facility, and as I drove there to meet my pastor and another close friend, I prayed, “Lord, I know I cannot save my father, but You can (Mark 10:27). I trust You for only what You can do.” By then, Dad alternated between rationality and nonsense, and I prayed the Lord would give him clarity that day. We prayed before entering his room, and when we did, we found Dad clear and lucid. A half hour later, we welcomed my father into Christ’s kingdom. He came to know who God is and who he was, a sinner in need of God’s grace. Less than two weeks later, the Lord took Dad home to heaven.
My lessons can be yours, too. Trust God’s faithfulness and His timing. Trust the sufficiency of Christ for salvation because we can do nothing to merit His favor. It’s all Jesus’ work on the cross that saves us.
Honor your father in ways that align with your faith in Christ. As you reflect on your father’s legacy, reflect on God our heavenly Father’s provision of everything we need to live a life of godliness (2 Peter 1:3).