Prove Yourself A Man

I Kings 2:2
King David's conversation with Solomon his son: "I go the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man."

There is a green bag on the top shelf of my closet in our bedroom. Its contents does not mean anything to anyone else. What is found in this bag has no value of any kind. You would not make any money if you tried to sell it. But to me, it is worth more money than you could find on this earth. If you dump out the contents you'd find an odd assortment of characters. There would be a fuzzy brown dog, long worn out from millions of hugs it has endured. There is a Pooh bear that is a dingy brownish-yellow. I'm sure the brown comes from chocolate milk stains....candy bars...maybe even a devils food cake wiped from a young face. The bear has been washed on numerous occasions, but alas....the stains persist. You'd also find a very strange looking duck....I think maybe one eye is gone, and the duck doesn't exactly stand up straight.

You see this bag contains the stuffed animals my sons played with when they were wee-little fellows. They ate with them, slept with them, dragged them from pillar to post, and never seemed to part with them. Opening that bag brings a flood memories that wash over me. I see my sons, now grown men with families of their own, yet the mental image of those two little boys will always be with me. I'm also reminded of my role as their father. A role that, in my estimation, gets mixed reviews. Some days I was father of the year....others, not so much. In spite of my mess-up's, God was faithful in helping Vicki and I raise our sons. His faithfulness was passed on to them, and is evident in their lives today. The one thing I wanted them to know is that I loved them unconditionally (didn't mean that I excused bad behavior), and that when I looked into their eyes, I saw that they had what it took to be a man. I affirmed them that I believed they would be men of integrity. Such belief  is becoming a lost art in our world today. A father affirming his children. To encourage them, as King David did, to go out into the world and prove themselves to be men (and women) that would reflect the values and righteousness of God's Kingdom.

Addiction robs a child of this right. Addiction robs the father (and mother) of the ability to speak words of edification that build up a child. Addiction is selfish and self centered. IT cares nothing about anyone else but the one it has a hold of. How many children are left to their own thoughts and ways, without any guidance what so ever because mom or dad are  caught up in this darkness of using and getting high?  How much of the current generation is searching for some meaning to life, seeing only chaos and turmoil in the lives of their parents. The one thing I remember most from my time at Rapha was a young girl that had come to visit her father. I remember seeing her with him, and her eyes were lifeless. No sparkle, no twinkle of hope at all. She showed no emotion at all, as if she were simply going through the motions of being with her dad. That was some years ago, and I have wondered what happened to her. Did she fall into the same lifestyle as her dad? Did she search for love in the arms of a man who abused her and sent her farther down into that dark pit? Did someone reach out to her and offer her the love of a heavenly Father who would guide her in spite of life's circumstances?

Don't let addiction rob you of the greatest blessing God can give. As a parent, God has given you this tiny life to watch over. A life that is like a blank slate waiting for someone to write on it the instructions on what it means to be a godly man or woman. You get the honor to be the one to impress the values of God in your child's life. It is an incredible feeling to watch as the years roll by and you see this life begin to form and be the kind of person that brings pleasure to God. If you raise them right, they will eventually leave home and go out into the world to make their own way. To not be tossed and buffeted by every situation that they may face, but they have been taught to be grounded and stand firm on the word of God.

God on you....
mbb