To be worthy, a Man must accept responsibility for any child he conceives. Today, it is common to see a young man who wants the pleasure of sex but not the duties of fatherhood. When his girlfriend conceives a child, he dumps her, or pleads with and pressures her to have an abortion. This is a cowardly abandonment of duty. What about the love he said he had for her? It is a sin against God, the woman, the child, and the society on which he now places the burden. Any way you look at it, sex apart from marriage is wrong. One of the greatest wrongs is conceiving a child under circumstances that rob it of the love and protection of a good home. How can grandparents be joyful in such circumstances?
A Worthy Father Provides for His Children's Needs. One who fails to do so is worse than an infidel. "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." {1 Timothy 5:8} A child's needs are numerous. That child may have food, clothing, and shelter to spare, and yet be neglected and deprived of what is most important in a healthy life. Every child needs and deserves attention, training, and most importantly, love. Not only does he/she need someone to teach him/her the social graces, how to ride a bike, eat at the table, the child also needs instruction in how to live a godly life in an ungodly world. Children need and deserve moral and spiritual guidance. God gave fathers that duty. "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." {Ephesians 6:4} This is the father's job--not society's!
A Worthy Father always sets a Good Example before his Children. He recognizes that his child learns most of life's lessons by observing his/her parents and how they live. What does a father teach his children when he neglects his duty to care for them? Moses instructed the children of Israel, "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you." {Deuteronomy 32:7} Often, remorseful parents are heard to cry that they "don't know why a child went bad." Didn't we tell them the right things, give them the right things, send them to church, etc. The fatal mistake they forgot to show the child the importance of these things in their own lives. Remember, the words in James 2:18. "Show me thy faith by thy works." The children are watching.
A worthy Father disciplines his child in a proper manner. "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him." {Proverbs 22:15} Discipline needs to be part of every child's education. "The rod of reproof gives wisdom; but a child left to himself causeth shame to his mother." {Proverbs 29:15} Can a father who neglects to discipline his child truly claim to love that child? "He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chastens him often." {Proverbs 13:24} Do not deny them the discipline they need!
Most any man can be a father, but to be a worthy father, a man must, with God's help, do his best to fulfill his responsibilities.