…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ_; _so that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. – Ephesians 4:13-15
We are now coming to the close of our brief exercise in gaining a fatherly character. In today’s passage, St. Paul writes about leaving childhood behind and growing into our maturity. This is not merely, “Stop being a kid and grow up.” Paul ties our coming into maturity directly to Christ.
We are to attain “the stature of the fullness of Christ” and “grow into him who is the head, Christ.” As we have been saying from the beginning of our meditations, we are made in God’s image, and we will find our true identity only by identifying with that image, by imitating Christ and the saints who have closely followed Christ.
We will become the fathers the Lord wants us to be when we participate in Christ’s own fatherly life.
The culture we inhabit is profoundly anti-fatherly.
As our world has moved away from God, it has also moved away from fatherhood.
Fatherhood is the special character of God—the way he most often describes himself.
Those who repudiate God’s authority will find fatherhood distasteful or even “toxic.” How can we avoid being wrongly influenced by this anti-fatherly trend?
How can we become ever more the fathers that the Lord wants us to be?
Here are a few practical suggestions for taking a firmer hold on our fatherly identity.
1. Come to know God as our Father and ourselves as his beloved sons.
Remember constantly the profound truth that we have a Father who never forgets us for a moment, who establishes us in life, and who wants to teach us how to represent him and allow him to live within us.
2. Reject the pull away from responsibility, and determine to be responsible.
If we have allowed ourselves to take on the selfish and immature attitude of our world, let’s decisively repudiate it.
Anything of the “man-boy,” of the self-absorbed concern to fashion our personal brand, of the fear of serious commitments, of the constant pull of time-wasting entertainment rather than the duties of service—let it all die so that the life of Christ can grow in us.
3. Make a fatherly examination of conscience.
Take a good look at our life and note down, maybe with a pen and paper, the various responsibilities we have, with home and family, at work, at church, or elsewhere.
Ask ourselves honestly: where are we failing in our fatherly responsibilities?
Where are we acting in ways that do not express a fatherly concern and character?
What are the main internal obstacles we face in trying to be a more Christ-like father?
Where does fear, selfish pride, laziness, or bad past experience get in our way?
4. Ask for help from the Holy Spirit.
As much as we may want to grow into mature men, into genuine fathers, our Heavenly Father desires it far more.
He has given us his Spirit, who lives within us and is constantly working to transform us into our true identity.
Seek the Lord for the grace of that transformation.
Ask the Holy Spirit for help in healing our weaknesses, for zeal in embracing our responsibilities, for confidence and courage in being true men and good fathers.
There is nothing better, there is no life so worthy, no call so high, no joy so complete, as to walk with Christ into our full manhood, and to take our place as fathers, representatives of the Father of us all, “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16)
