R. Kent Hughes writes:

There are some fathers who are sarcastic and constantly criticize their sons. I think of a certain little boy when I coached soccer. His demeaning father would run up and down the field belittling his boy with words like “chicken” and “woman.” He was the only parent I ever told to be quiet or leave the field.

Winston Churchill had such a father in Lord Randolph Churchill. He did not like the looks of Winston, he did not like his voice, he did not like to be in the same room with his son. He never complimented him—only criticized him. His biographers excerpt young Winston’s letters begging both parents for his father’s attention: “I would rather have been apprenticed as a bricklayer’s mate … it would have been natural … and I (would) have got to know my father …”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Many people grow up with that aching sense of being unloved, because of an absent or dysfunctional father. How glorious it is to be healed by the Father Heart of God.