"Most men... understand that Christianity is an offer of forgiveness, made available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross... What they don't seem to grasp is, there is more. That forgiveness was made available to each of us so that we might come home to the Father. Forgiveness is not the goal. Coming home to the Father is the goal. So a man who calls himself a Christian, attends church, and has some hope of heaven when he dies has not received the lion's share of what God intended him to receive through the work of Christ. He will find himself living still very much alone, stuck in his journey, wondering why he cannot become the man he longs to be. He has not come into sonship."
As I typed that my mind went to the scene in The Lion King where Simba comes face to face with Mufasa in the clouds and his father tells him, "You are more than what you have become." That is true of us, and most of the men in the Church. We have missed the point of all of this, and in so doing, find ourselves board and restless, longing for something more.
In Wild at Heart John talked about how much of what has been presented to us is that we are to be well behaved, really nice guys. But that isn't what we were made for, and it isn't what we crave. We were made to be powerful and dangerous men. Men who stand up for truth, live in righteousness, fight the good fight of faith, defend the defenseless, and live passionately from true strength. That is the point, and that is what God both created us for, and is inviting us into through the redemption of Christ. We are more than what we have become.
"You are the son of a kind, strong, and engaged Father, a Father wise enough to guide you in the Way, generous enough to provide for your journey. His first act of provision happened before you were even born, when he rescued you through the life, death, and resurrection of our elder brother, Jesus of Nazareth. Then he called you to himself - perhaps is calling you even now - to come home to him through faith in Christ."
Regardless of what your earthly father did or didn't do, there is a true Father in God, who will more than make up for his shortcomings. The greatest things my dad did for me was to make sure I was in church every Sunday, and disciplined me when I did something wrong. I learned about God, and I learned how to act in society. And these two things enabled me to learn and grow.
"You see, our deepest convictions about ourselves, about life, and about God are handed to us by our families when we are young... Being a father is a noble undertaking, and a terrifically hard one. A 'hazardous conquest,' as Gabriel Marcel wrote, 'which is achieved step by step over difficult country full of ambushes.' If our earthly fathers faltered along the way, it may have been that the country they were asked to ravel was more difficult than we know. The longer we live, the more I think we will see our fathers' failures with compassion, and - I hope - we will see all that was good in what they were able to offer. A good father was meant to teach us truly about our Father God, and teach us to walk with him. For the day will come, sooner or later, when the son will no longer have his earthly father by his side (if ever he did have him there), and he must go on with God. So, one way or another, our lives find their fulfillment in union with our heavenly Father. This is central to Jesus' teaching."
At some point in every man's journey, they only father he will have is God. I performed a funeral last year and one of the man's sons said the thing he would miss most was having someone to call who knew exactly what he was talking about. As I spoke to them that day I said something along the lines of, "Even though your earthly father is gone, you are not fatherless. You have a heavenly father."
The most important thing any father can do is point his children to God. As I've been studying the Bible, recently I've found what I believe is the most crucial teaching in Scripture, and therefore the most important lesson for me to teach my children. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3.5-60). Teaching them to fully trust in God, and knowing that when they do, He will guide them, is a lesson that will get them through everything they encounter, and it will stay with them even after I am gone.
We were made to live with this trust, this dependence upon God. When we realize this and actually begin to live like it, things can happen. "A radical shift has taken place for those of us who have come to faith in Christ. We have been embraced by our Father in heaven. He has taken us into his family. We are his sons. We really are. We have his Spirit in our hearts (rom. 8:15). We have a new legacy, for we shall be like him (rom. 8:29). We are free now to love our families here on earth, for we need not live under any of the false guilt, false pressures, false inheritances. Our view of ourselves as men can be healed. Our view of the life before us can be renewed. We are free now to take up our journeys with a Father who cares, who understands, who is committed to see us through. Our initiation can commence."
We are more than what we have become, and God isn't satisfied to leave us like that.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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