The only thing I know about being a father

I am the proud father of a little baby boy or girl, about the size of a lemon. We are eagerly awaiting his or her arrival into the outside world around the end of July. Right now I might not be the man to turn to for parenting tips, because I really don't know much. But I know one thing, and I would dare to say that it is the most important thing one can ever know about being a father. Here it is: 

God has ordained fatherhood as the role by which He would define Himself.

God calls himself father. And one day our child, either through preaching or through reading the Bible, will come to understand God as father. But what will my child understand by the word "father"? That depends almost exclusively on me.

That's right. God--in order to communicate to my child who He is--points my child to me, and say "Look at Your dad. That's what I'm like".

It is a common misunderstanding that the Bible has little to say about being a father. Just a few reminders in proverbs to spank them when they need it, and Colossians 3:21 telling us not to drive them crazy. But in fact everything in the Bible is about fatherhood, because it is about the Father. Everything that is about God is about what I as a father need to be for my children. Their souls depend on it.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name... (Eph 3:14-15)