38 ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS A PARENT GIVES
A CHILD IS CHARACTER.

“You act just like your dad,” my father’s friend said to me.

I’m not sure to this day if that was a good thing or not. Some of my father’s traits were commendable, but others (like chewing tobacco) weren’t so great.

The most transparent father in the Bible is probably Joseph, Jesus’ earthly dad. Joseph was so transparent that Jesus saw the Father clearly through his dad. Jesus was always acting like his heavenly Father.

We can infer that Jesus must have spent a lot of time with Joseph in the carpentry craft growing up. We know that a young boy in Jesus’ day would have learned the Torah sitting at the feet of his father. He must have learned it well for Jesus continually quoted the Scriptures. However, I can’t think of a time that Jesus ever said, “My daddy said.…”

Here’s the point: As parents we want to impart the Father’s character, not our carnal natures, to our children.

In fact, there are times when we must say to our children, “That was me speaking. That wasn’t the Father speaking to you.”

I’m pure because the Father is pure. And I desire to teach purity to my children so their character is morally pure. Let it be your desire to imitate Christ, to be like the Father, to walk in the Spirit as much as possible. And when you don’t, give your child permission to ask you, “Where did that statement or action come from—the Father or you?”

Character filled with the virtue of God and the fruit of the Spirit is the most precious gift we can give our child. When we give our child Jesus, we imitate Christ in such a way that they see more and more of Him and less and less of us.

He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).