Turning Hearts to Family: A Father's Faith Journey

Colossians 3:19-21 puts fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and children under the eye of the Lord. Husbands are told to love their wives and not be bitter. Children are told to obey their parents because that pleases the Lord. Fathers are told not to provoke their children to anger, because a discouraged child is a wounded child.

Father’s Day becomes a plain reminder that dads matter. The culture can make dads look like goofballs, idiots, and the dumbest person in the room, but Scripture does not treat fatherhood that way. A father’s presence, especially in church and in the spiritual life of the home, matters more than he may ever know. Kids need their fathers, and fathers need to understand that the house of the Lord is not something to show up for only on a wedding day.

The story of one father shows how complicated a life can be. The early years looked spiritually empty. This dad did not go to church, did not bring his children to church, and seemed far from God. Yet when Scripture was read to him, he finished every verse. Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 were not strange to him at all.

The shocking discovery was that this father had once been a faithful believer. He had been a youth group leader, a charter member of a church, and a man who wrote letters full of Bible, prayer, chapel, and love for the Lord. Korea changed something. War, death, silence, and maybe even church trouble back home may have helped push him away. The spiritual references in the letters just stopped, and for close to fifty years his children did not see the faith that had once marked him.

The final call is simple and serious. If a dad brings his family to church, he ought to be hugged and loved. If others walk away from God, the believer must still say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” If life did not include the benefits others had, bitterness must not be allowed to grow a root and defile many. If a believer has drifted, getting back to God cannot wait. Christ still stands at the door and knocks, even to a church that has shut Him out.

The last word turns toward mercy in the family. Fathers are to love their children. Children are to honor their fathers. God can still turn the hearts of fathers to children and the hearts of children to fathers.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Dads need to be present A father’s presence is not just about being in the house. Colossians places fatherhood under God’s authority, which means a dad’s spiritual absence can leave real marks on a child. The child may still love him, but love does not erase the need for guidance, example, and worship together. [40:29]
• 2. Hidden faith can still haunt A life can contain chapters that even family never sees. The father who looked far from God had once known Scripture, served in church, and carried deep spiritual memories. That kind of hidden history is sobering because faith is not meant to be buried where children only find it in letters after death. [43:36]
• 3. Bitterness defiles more than one Bitterness often feels justified when something real was missing. Hebrews warns that the root does not stay private, because it springs up, troubles the heart, and defiles many. The “what if” game can become a prison if grace does not cut the root. [63:49]
• 4. Do not leave faith unclear A family should not have to guess whether Christ mattered. A funeral with clear hope carries grief, but it also carries joy because the person’s testimony spoke before death did. Salvation is by grace, but a hidden Christian life is not the way anybody should want to “skim in.” [65:10]
• 5. Come back to God quickly Drifting from God can happen a little at a time or a long way down the road. Revelation 3:20 shows Christ knocking even at the door of a church, calling His own people to open up again. If the locks have been changed, the door can still be opened.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [30:09] - Father’s Day Song
• [32:46] - Gifts, Humor, and Colossians 3
• [34:11] - Remembering a Quiet Father
• [40:07] - A Dad Who Did Not Attend Church
• [43:36] - Discovering His Earlier Faith
• [45:27] - Korea, Silence, and Change
• [49:17] - Returning to Church Late in Life
• [50:22] - Funeral Letters and Hidden History
• [55:07] - When Spiritual References Stopped
• [58:32] - Glad to Go to Church
• [60:34] - Serve God No Matter What
• [63:05] - Refusing the Root of Bitterness
• [65:10] - Make Faith Plain to Family
• [69:29] - Hearts Turned Toward Fathers

1. In Colossians 3:19-21, what specific commands are given to husbands, children, and fathers, and what warning is attached to a father discouraging his children?
2. What details showed that a father who seemed far from God had actually known Scripture and Christian life well in earlier years? [43:36]
3. What signs suggested that something changed during the Korea years, especially when the spiritual language in the letters suddenly stopped? [55:07]
4. According to Hebrews 12:15, what does bitterness do beyond the person who first holds it? [01:04:33]

1. Colossians says fathers are not to provoke their children “lest they become discouraged.” What does that suggest about the power a father’s presence, words, and habits can have on a child’s heart?
2. A person may know Bible verses, have a real past in church, and still live for many years with almost no visible testimony. What does that reveal about the danger of drift and about the need for faith to remain plain and active? [01:05:10]
3. Hebrews 12:15 describes bitterness as a root that troubles and defiles many. Why does bitterness so often spread into the rest of a family instead of staying private? [01:03:49]
4. Revelation 3:20 shows Christ knocking at the door, even speaking to a church. How does that shape the way a drifting believer should think about returning to God? [01:08:43]

1. A father’s presence in the house of God matters. What kind of spiritual presence did each person here receive from a father or father figure, and where might there still be hurt, gratitude, or unfinished longing? [40:29]
2. Some people can point to a season when they slowly drifted from God. Where does that drift show up most clearly right now—in church life, prayer, Scripture, obedience, or openness with family—and what would it look like to open the door to Christ again? [01:09:29]
3. The “what if” game can feed bitterness for years. Is there a loss, absence, or family disappointment that still tempts someone here to think, “my life would have been different if…”? What would it mean to bring that honestly to the Lord without letting it become a root? [01:03:05]
4. Family should not have to guess whether Christ matters. If loved ones had to describe a person’s faith using only what they currently see, what would they say? What might need to become clearer? [01:05:10]
5. Some have had to lean on “substitute dads” or other steady believers along the way. Who has filled that kind of role, and how might God use someone here to become that kind of steady presence for a younger person now? [43:03]
6. Children are called to honor their parents, and fathers are called to love their children. Is there a relationship in the family where honor, tenderness, or forgiveness needs to be rebuilt a step at a time? What might a faithful first step look like this week? [01:10:49]
7. God turns hearts of fathers to children and children to fathers. Where would each person most want to see that miracle in their own family, and what would it look like to begin praying for that specifically instead of only grieving what is missing? [01:12:29]