About a month ago, on Mother’s Day, I made several recommendations for mothers and prospective mothers. As they say, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” So today I’ll be making similar recommendations for fathers and for prospective fathers.

Just like many modern women, men today are delaying parenthood later than previous generations. Men today, on average, become fathers at about 30 years old. That’s several years older than what was common in previous generations. Over the last several decades, both men and women have been steadily postponing parenthood.

Why are men postponing fatherhood? There are a variety of reasons. Some want to get their career on track before getting married and having kids. They want financial stability before marriage. Others want to sow their wild oats and enjoy freedom and fun before settling down. Some are finding it hard to find a suitable wife. Others simply don’t want to make the commitments and or take on responsibilities necessary to be good fathers. They are commitment-averse. Some young men continue to act like adolescents well into the 30s; they are too immature to become fathers.

I read that about one-quarter of all men are not fathers by the age of 44. That’s apparently an all-time high for that statistic. Many men are far more focused on career and personal pleasure than they are on creating a family.

As I said a few weeks ago, Christians cannot simply imitate what is common in the culture. The fact that many men are avoiding fatherhood, delaying fatherhood, and having small families does not mean that Christian men should follow that pattern. The modern pattern is not normal, it is not sustainable, and it is not Christian.

Today is Father’s Day, and we want to celebrate those men who follow the biblical pattern for fathers.

I’d like to make several recommendations regarding fatherhood. Some of these recommendations pertain particularly to young men who could potentially become fathers, and some pertain to those who are already fathers. And I think all of these are biblical, Christian, reasonable recommendations regarding fatherhood.