Live courageously from your heart!
Father’s Day is a day to intentionally pause, celebrate, honor and reflect on dads….but what about all the days in between? Are you celebrated and honored as a dad? By your children?
There was a time in my life when I don’t think I could have answered those questions with confidence. I am a man who should have lost it all but because of God’s Amazing Grace, He restored the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). I share that story in Heartstone.
Have you ever paused and discovered that it’s so easy to get lost in the counterfeit? …or realized that we live in a world where the counterfeit seems more real than the real?
Check out this conversation between Morpheus and Neo from the movie ‘The Matrix’.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall CLEAVE unto his wife:
and they shall be one flesh. -Genesis 2:24
This is an interesting topic for today’s culture. First of all, the word cleave is not a common word anymore therefore is not very well known. The Bible refers to this word in two different forms, which are to separate or to join. I thought this was an interesting pairing, but learned that they kind of work together. Some other similar words are: unite, draw together, joined or glued. This idea of cleaving was brought up in the first book of the Old Testament, but it was also brought up again in the first book of the New Testament. Matthew 19 reads; “at the beginning God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his Father and Mother and be UNITED to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. They are no longer two, but one. What God has joined together, let no man separate.”
I found myself in the squalor of my own ‘pig slop’ just as the prodigal son did. I had to stray far so I could begin to understand that the recklessness of my choice to have ‘my portion’ right now placed me in ruins. I had foolishly pursued many temporary things such as wealth, power, and success. With a present-tense gratification, without any care or concern about my future…my selfish nature wanted it now!
Check out this mission statement by a young African pastor found among his papers in Zimbabwe after he was martyred!
I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
