Leithart continues, a gives a humbling question for fathers:

Some of it is certainly distorted doctrine and teaching in the church. Some of it is a failure to embody the gospel in the Lord’s Table. Much of it, I suspect, has to do with our conduct as parents. What kind of portrait of God does our parenting portray before our children? Fathers, ask yourself: if your children’s first notion of fatherhood comes from you, what connotations will come to mind when you call God “Father”? In any case, this service–this abject fear, this fear of punishment–is precisely what John says the gospel removes. God loves us, he’s demonstrated his love to us in his Son.  And the more this gospel grips our hearts, the more that love will be visible in our love for one another.