{"id":2459,"date":"2026-08-20T01:21:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/?p=2459"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:25:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T00:25:47","slug":"are-we-reflecting-the-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/relationships\/2026\/are-we-reflecting-the-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Are we reflecting THE Father?"},"content":{"rendered":"

DM post to a group of men I study the Bible with online<\/span><\/p>\n

Evening brothers,\u00a0<\/p>\n

I just wanted to pass on a request for prayer\u2026<\/p>\n

I have been reading & dwelling on Romans 2:4:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Don\u2019t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can\u2019t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Romans 2:4-11 (NLT)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obviously we can (or at least should<\/em>)\u00a0be besotted with gratitude for the fact that God operates as a loving Father towards us: He uses kindness<\/span> to train us & not punishment\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

It reminds me of:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,<\/em>
who, O Lord, could ever survive?\u00a04 But you offer forgiveness,\u00a0that we might learn to fear you.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Psalms 130:3-4 (NLT) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But this concept I have struggled with my whole Christian walk. Maybe due to my childhood (lots of physical punishment from those who had no love for me), or maybe due to my pride and desire to be right. Either way, I can see the concept and it amazes me mentally, but\u00a0I don\u2019t connect with it fully emotionally or spiritually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The clearest example of this is in the way I treat my wife and children at times\u2026but it is how I treat myself too. My self view & talk is harsh and negative.\u00a0
It\u2019s like it is ingrained in me:\u00a0in the heat of the moment, and in my reactions or planning as \u2018dad\u2019, my default is always punishment, removal of freedoms and at times, withdrawal or anger.<\/p>\n

I am shocked at just how far my fathering reflects the exact opposite of how I am meant to be (as an image bearer of our Loving Father). I am aware that my children will come to believe God has the same character as what I model to them: I want to do better\u2026 Much better.<\/p>\n

I want to show love and grace and speak into their identity *more* when they have fallen short of what I (or they) expect. I want to be the husband my wife always feels safe with and the father my children naturally run to when they have stuffed up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I would appreciate your prayers as God reveals, heals and transforms the depths of my fallen & corrupted nature. That I could be as He is & use kindness towards myself & others that it would become a normal reflection of His character. That I wouldn\u2019t just *do* mercy, but *love* mercy. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I have such a looong way to go and am grateful to be part of this group. I look up to you as great examples of His grace and the stability He can bring when people follow Him & His ways – I am grateful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thank you\u00a0<\/p>\n

– In Christ<\/p>\n

Adam\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Don\u2019t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can\u2019t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God\u2019s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil\u2014for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good\u2014for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Romans 2:4-11 (NLT)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DM post to a group of men I study the Bible with online Evening brothers,\u00a0 I just wanted to pass on a request for prayer\u2026 I have been reading & dwelling on Romans 2:4:\u00a0 \u00a0Don\u2019t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can\u2019t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? Romans 2:4-11 (NLT)\u00a0 Obviously we can (or at least should)\u00a0be besotted with gratitude for the fact that God operates as a loving Father towards us: He uses kindness to train us & not …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,48,47],"tags":[87,61,75],"class_list":["post-2459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marriage-significant-other","category-parenting","category-relationships","tag-fathers","tag-marriage","tag-parenting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Father-help-us-be-a-good-father.jpg?fit=1824%2C1774&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pasDCW-DF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2459"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2466,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459\/revisions\/2466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}