This is a very important post Ben. Have you heard of Men's Fraternity? (No, not as in jello shots and sorority girls) It is an awesome program with the goal of restoring Biblical manhood. Judd loved it, and I must say, I loved it, too. You can see it at www.mensfraternity.com
ded
· 2 years ago
I just wish you had finished the post with something to the effect of, "...and you will never succeed if you attempt to win those high stakes on your own." Men being who they are, some will undoubtedly take your challenging last line and redouble their efforts to be "godly" men and perform the "high stakes" role of father in their own understanding. It won't work. It is Christ in you or nothing in all things and especially when parenting. I did everything I knew to do, was taught to do, believed I should do and I still got the nightmare call at 3:00 AM, "Hello, Mr. Davis. This is officer so and so at Boone PD and we have your son under arrest." We either walk a NT reality of life in Christ or we don't. Christian religion fails and fails and fails no matter what the stakes are.
Ben Cotten
· 2 years ago
Good point. When I preached this I spent a lot of time on that very thing. The only way any of us can accomplish our mission as Christians is through Christ in us. If I didn't believe that, I never would have had kids to begin with!
The other thing I didn't go into here is, what is a parent to do if their kids are grown? Is it too late?
I don't think it is. Not at all. God can redeem anything. Repentance is a parent's greatest tool.
All that being true, this doesn't lower the stakes. Living in NT reality doesn't make the OT reality any less real or the consequences of my sin less dire. Nor does it make my own propensity for passivity any less grievous. Repentance begins with facing the realities of what my sin means. It means I've offended my Jesus and brought death into my life and into the lives of those to whom I'm connected. It's in the despair over that OT reality that the NT reality of the cross becomes evident. The realities of sin and death didn't go away at the end of Malachi.
Seeing my sin and grieving over its effects in my life and in the life of my community is like the starting shot of repentance. This was my intent with this post. To fire the starting pistol.
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The other thing I didn't go into here is, what is a parent to do if their kids are grown? Is it too late?
I don't think it is. Not at all. God can redeem anything. Repentance is a parent's greatest tool.
All that being true, this doesn't lower the stakes. Living in NT reality doesn't make the OT reality any less real or the consequences of my sin less dire. Nor does it make my own propensity for passivity any less grievous. Repentance begins with facing the realities of what my sin means. It means I've offended my Jesus and brought death into my life and into the lives of those to whom I'm connected. It's in the despair over that OT reality that the NT reality of the cross becomes evident. The realities of sin and death didn't go away at the end of Malachi.
Seeing my sin and grieving over its effects in my life and in the life of my community is like the starting shot of repentance. This was my intent with this post. To fire the starting pistol.