"You see, we need fathering still. All of us. More than we know. There are many places in us yet orphaned, many places that need initiation into manhood. This is as true of the seventy-year-old man as it is of the sixteen-year-old boy. We are Unfinished Men. And in truth, the Father has been fathering us for a long time now or, at least, trying to. What I'm suggesting is a new way of looking at your life as a man. To see your life as a process of initiation into masculine maturity, and your Father doing the initiating."
Life is a journey, and all of us are on it. All of us need to be one it. This life has been given to us so that we can become like Christ, and that is a process that takes a lifetime. Our lives are not meant to be adventures and battles that are done when we get married and have a couple of kids, being set aside for responsibility. We were created to live fully alive, a life of battling for truth, and living adventurously for God's glory, as we strive to be more like Him. And this is what God is wanting to lead us into.
Not one of us is perfectly like Christ, and we won't be until we take our final breath and meet Him in glory. But God is working to initiate us daily into Christlikeness. Every day we move closer to the goal. But we need God to take us there.
"We need fathering. We need initiation. In order to get there, we must embrace in our heart of hearts three truths given to us n Scripture. First, you have been brought home, through the work of Christ, to your true Father. Given the Spirit of sonship and, with it, the full rights of a son. Second, you are free from the constraints of your earthly family, free to follow God, free to become the man you were born to be, to surpass your family’s legacy. Third, the premise of this book: acting as a true Father, and you his true son, God is no raising you up as a son."
Galatians 5.1 says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Philippians 1.6 tells us, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Christ set us free so that we could be free, and God is at work in us to mold us into the Men of God we were created to be. This is the desire of each of our hearts, and that heart has been set free in Christ.
In the movie Brave Heart there is a scene at the beginning where the young William Wallace has a dream. His father has been killed in battle, but in the dream he is alive and next to him and tells William, "Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it." This is what God is saying to each of us. Your heart has been set free by Christ, and God is leading you into the life your heart longs for. Do you have the courage to follow Him?
"Our father has come for us, and our initiation is under way."
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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