Lessons from Dad
Purity 449 06/19/2021 Purity 449 Podcast
Today’s photo of yours truly on the night of my prom posing with my dad
in his NY Naval Militia T-Shirt comes to us from across the decades from the
distant and simpler times of June 1990. And yes, that is a devil tattoo on my dad’s
arm…
I normally share various views of the great
outdoors that my friends have posted on social media but because tomorrow is
Father’s Day, I decided to share a photo of the creation of God that “brought
me into this world” and more than once probably thought about “taking me out”.
While the two subjects pictured here have both
had epic journeys through life and haven’t always made the best decisions, they
both know the love of God and the love of one another.
You don’t get to pick your family and while my
relationship with my dad hasn’t always been perfect I can honestly say that I
never doubted his love from my brothers and me although in the turmoil of
raising four boys into men we may have questioned his wisdom and tactics.
Life is complicated and I could talk about negative
aspects about my father and what transpired in the past but through my faith in
Christ I have sought my father’s forgiveness and have forgiven him for any offenses
in the past.
So instead of sharing stories about our
personal failings and differences that may have caused issues in the past, I
thought I would thank my father for his example and the lessons they taught
me. Thanks, Dad! My father taught me to:
· Be a provider:
For most of my life, my father was a correctional officer for New York
State. Both my parents had work ethics
and they passed that down to us. We weren’t blessed with familial wealth. Everything
we had was because of my mother and father’s commitment to provide for us. My father often worked double shifts, late
hours, and holidays, including Christmas. My father taught me that men work and
sacrifice for their families.
The first story was “Rita Hayworth and the
Shawshank Redemption”, a prison escape story that opened my 13-year-old eyes to
the brutal realities of life behind bars and what it was like to keep hope
alive in the darkest of circumstances.
Different Seasons also contained: “The Body” a
story about four teenage boys who seek to find a lost boy and it tells of that
transitional period of adolescence and friendship that I was living in. You might know the story as “Stand by Me” as they
made it into a film starring River Phoenix and Will Wheaton.
That book opened a window to life I didn’t know
existed and I learned a lot from it. It made me a lifelong Stephen King fan, taught
me the value of reading for entertainment and for education, and gave me a
desire to become a writer. So I owe my dad
for my love of reading. Also my dad is partially responsible for my expressing
myself through the written word that I try to use to encourage others.
· Be a problem solver: While I can testify that there have been
times that I was the problem, my father’s example taught me to be a problem
solver. He wasn’t the most skilled craftsman,
but my dad would fix or install things around the house. He also was the one
who would literally bail us out when we got into trouble.
Ironically, my dad was somewhat of a gruff guy
who expected you to do what he said and who was someone you definitively didn’t
want to put to the test, but whenever you got in trouble he would surprise you
with his compassion and patience. You
would expect him to blow up, but he would be cool as a cucumber and show
mercy. Even after I had started a
family of my own, my go to response was to call my father when I ran into a
crisis.
There are more lessons my father taught me because
of his example but the point behind all of this is that everything I learned
from my father was motivated by his love for us.
So although your relationship with your father
might be complicated, if he played any positive role in your life at all be
thankful for it and try to honor him in someway tomorrow.
For those whose fathers weren’t fathers at all,
I’m sorry. I would like to assure you though that there is a Heavenly Father
who loves you. Even though that biological
contributor you would be forced to call your father didn’t do right by you,
your Heavenly Father is sovereign over all things and any of the love that you
received from other men or women in this world flowed directly from Him to
you.
If you can’t or aren’t ready to honor your earthly father, I would encourage you to continue or to establish a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ so you can experience His presence and the abundant love He has for you. If you turn to God, He will meet you with open arms and give you the strength, wisdom, and love that no earthly father could.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Luke 2:11 (NKJV)
11 For there is born to you this
day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Today’s verse is
probably known to some as the Linus verse, as it has been recited by our blanket
carrying friend in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” every year since 1965.
I guess the Lord is
in a festive season as of late as we just had Luke 2:12 randomly drawn as the
verse of the day a couple of days ago. But
I also think we can use today’s verse to highlight our Father’s Day celebration
too.
It was the Father
who sent the Son to earth to save us. Christ
was a gift of love and sacrifice. Christ
was also the revelation of God’s plan for mankind.
In a world full of confusion
and various beliefs, God the Father made it clear what He expects men who want a
relationship with Him to do, they are to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord in
Savior.
No matter what
people say they believe, they must answer the Jesus question.
Is Jesus the Messiah
and do you place your faith in Him for your salvation?
No matter how light
and peaceful or dark and demonic you decided to be in your thoughts, attitudes,
and actions in this world, when you come to the end of your life your eternal
destiny will hinge on how you answer that question.
God the Father has
given us the gift of His beloved Son out of His great love for us. To live, we must accept it and we must share
it.
So on this Father’s
Day weekend, remind those you see that no matter what gifts we give or receive
this weekend, our Heavenly Father has a gift for all of us that leads to everlasting
life.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, continuing Chapter 3.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’s books for your own private study
and to support His work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $15.00:
Believing
the Truth About Others
A pastor asked me, "How can I get out of my
church?"
"Why do you want out?" I asked.
"What's wrong with your church?"
"I've got a bunch of losers in my
church."
"Losers? I wonder
if they are really losers or if they just see themselves as losers because
that's how you see them."
He reluctantly agreed that it was
probably the latter. He was right, because there are no losers in the kingdom
of God—none whatsoever. How can children of God be losers when they have
already gained eternal life? As important as it is for you to believe in your
true identity as a child of God, it is equally important that you perceive
other Christians for who they are in Christ and treat them accordingly. I
believe that the greatest determinant for how we treat people is how we
perceive them. If we view people as losers we will begin to treat them that
way. If, however, we believe our brothers and sisters in Christ are redeemed
saints, we will treat them as saints and they will be greatly helped in
behaving as saints.
Studies have shown that, in the
average home, for every positive statement, a child receives 10 negative
statements. The school environment is only slightly better; students hear seven
negative statements from their teachers for every one positive statement. No
wonder so many children are growing up thinking they are losers. Parents and
teachers are conveying what they believe every day to their children and
students.
These studies go on to point out that
it takes four positive statements to negate the effect of one negative
statement. You probably verify that finding every time you wear a new suit or
dress. Some of your friends may say, "Oh, what a good looking
outfit." It only takes one comment such as "It's really not you"
to send you scurrying back to the store for a refund. We affect others
significantly by what we say about them, and what we say is determined by what
we believe about them.
The New Testament clearly states that
we are saints who sin. Children of God who say they don't sin are called liars
(see 1 John
1:8). We are not to judge one another; instead, we are called to accept
other believers as children of God, and to build up each other.
If we could memorize just one verse
from the New Testament, put it into practice and never violate it, I believe we
would resolve half the problems in our homes and churches. The verse is Ephes. 4:29:
"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as
is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give
grace to those who hear."
Isn't it amazing that you and I have
the power to give grace to others through the proper use of our words? If we
said nothing to put others down, and only built up others as Ephes. 4:29
commands, we would be part of God's construction crew in the church instead of
members of Satan's wrecking crew.
Relating
to God
When I was in the eighth grade, we had a program called
Religious Day Instruction. Every Tuesday afternoon the afternoon classes were
shortened so we could go to the church of our choice for the last hour. It
wasn't forced religion; students could choose to go to study hall, but I went
to the church of my mother's choice. One nice fall day, I decided to skip
Religious Day Instruction. I played in the park, and came back in time to catch
the bus for my ride home to the farm. I thought I had gotten away with it, but
I did not!
The next day the principal called me
in and chewed me out. Then he said, "I have arranged for you to be home
Thursday and Friday." I was shocked. Suspended from school for two days
for skipping Religious Day Instruction? I was not looking forward to seeing my
parents, and the ride home was miserable. I thought about playing sick for two
days, or hiding in the woods when I should have been in school. I couldn't do
it, and I knew I had to face my authority figures. I went to my mother because
I knew there would be some mercy there.
"Mom," I said, "I got
suspended from school for two days for skipping Religious Day
Instruction."
At first she was shocked, then she
smiled and said, "Oh, Neil, I forgot to tell you. We called the school to
see if you could stay home Thursday and Friday to help us pick corn."
Now if I had known that, would I have
dreaded seeing my parents? Would the school-bus ride home have been miserable?
Of course not, but I didn't know that staying home Thursday and Friday was already
justified. That is how many Christians live their lives. They live their lives
as though they are walking on glass. They can't make any mistakes because if
they do, the hammer of God will fall on them.
Dear Christian reader, the hammer
fell. It fell on Christ. He died "once for all" our sins (Romans 6:10). We
are not sinners in the hands of an angry God. We are saints in the hands of a
loving God who has called us to "draw near with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22).
"For through Him [Christ] we both have our access in one Spirit to the
Father" (Ephes.
2:18); "in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in
Him" (Ephes.
3:12).
Some Christian leaders believe we
should emphasize the sinful side of our human nature as a motivation to live
righteously. I respectfully disagree. How can we motivate by guilt when,
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus" (Romans
8:1)? How can we motivate by fear when, "God has not given us a spirit
of timidity, but of power and love and discipline" (2 Tim. 1:7)?
I believe we ought to tell believers the truth about who they are in Christ and
motivate them to live accordingly. To illustrate this truth, let me share the
following testimony sent to me by a missionary who read the first edition of
this book:
Though
I have been a Christian for many years, I never understood God's forgiveness
and my spiritual inheritance. I have been struggling for years with a
particular sin. I was in Bible college when I began this horrible practice. I
never thought this living hell would ever end. I would have killed myself had I
not thought that was a sin. I felt God had turned His back on me and I was
doomed to hell because I couldn't overcome this sin. I hated myself. I felt
like such a failure.
The Lord led me to purchase your book Victory over the
Darkness. I feel like a new Christian, like I've just been born again. My
eyes are now open to God's love, and I realize that I am a saint who has chosen
to sin. I can finally say I am free, free of Satan's bondage and aware of the
lies he has been feeding me.
I would confess to God and beg His forgiveness when I
sinned, but the next time I fell deeper into Satan's grasp because I couldn't
accept God's forgiveness and I couldn't forgive myself. I always thought the
answer lied in drawing closer to God, but I went to Him in confusion, believing
I was a sinner who couldn't be loved. No more! Through the Scriptures
and the way you presented them to me, I am no longer a defeated Christian. I
now know I am alive in Christ and dead to sin and a slave of righteousness. I
now live by faith according to what God said is true. Sin has no power over me,
Satan has lost his grip on me.
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is
also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Audible.com.
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be
encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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