If you have lived very long in the 20th or 21st century you have heard of a landmine and you know what kind of destruction that they can cause. You might have seen the pictures of children in the middle east that have been wounded and maimed by these terrible explosives. Or maybe you have just seen them in the "Rambo" movies, either way, the landmines that I am going to speak about today are not the ones buried in the ground waiting on some unsuspecting soldier to step on it. The landmines that I am talking about are "leadership" landmines. And once they go off, it's too late to retrace our steps and avoid them. We can recover from these "explosions" but we are never the same as before. Our influence is never as powerful as it was pre-explosion. The best thing to do is to avoid them in the first place.
What are some landmines that could alter your effectiveness as a father? Here is a list of questions that I think might stir some thoughts in regards to that very question:
I have learned in my time as a father that my ability to be a parent is directly effected by my own personal integrity. I am a human being and I still blow it from time to time and have to ask for their forgiveness. I realized a long time ago that without the Lord's help I can't ever hope to avoid the landmines that could destroy my effectiveness as their father.
Our personal integrity is like money in a savings account. It compounds over time and will give us increasingly strong leverage. As my kids get older, I can have a growing influence and impact on their lives. And that influence can either be positive or negative. I can either show them the right way to go or send them down the wrong path. It is all up to me and I am ultimately accountable for this. No other man will stand in my place when I die and have to answer for the way that I have lived my life and for the way that I raised my children. It is my responsibility and it hinges on my personal integrity and my relationship with Jesus Christ.
I realize that there is a hope beyond a major moral or financial collapse. But for every "King David" there are thousands of men who never claw their way back. As a father, I owe it to my children and my wife to avoid these landmines. And with God's help, I can do it and so can you.
"If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" Luke 16:11 ESV
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time-he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and dominion. Amen." 1st Timothy 16:11-16 ESV
What are some landmines that could alter your effectiveness as a father? Here is a list of questions that I think might stir some thoughts in regards to that very question:
- What can I do to guard my family against financial disaster?
- Is money or my job becoming my idol?
- Am I building a relationship (accidentally or intentionally) with a woman that is getting too comfortable or intimate?
- Am I sharing my struggles with a woman other than my wife?
- Do I spend one-on-one time with a woman other than my wife, in social settings that can be avoided?
I have learned in my time as a father that my ability to be a parent is directly effected by my own personal integrity. I am a human being and I still blow it from time to time and have to ask for their forgiveness. I realized a long time ago that without the Lord's help I can't ever hope to avoid the landmines that could destroy my effectiveness as their father.
Our personal integrity is like money in a savings account. It compounds over time and will give us increasingly strong leverage. As my kids get older, I can have a growing influence and impact on their lives. And that influence can either be positive or negative. I can either show them the right way to go or send them down the wrong path. It is all up to me and I am ultimately accountable for this. No other man will stand in my place when I die and have to answer for the way that I have lived my life and for the way that I raised my children. It is my responsibility and it hinges on my personal integrity and my relationship with Jesus Christ.
I realize that there is a hope beyond a major moral or financial collapse. But for every "King David" there are thousands of men who never claw their way back. As a father, I owe it to my children and my wife to avoid these landmines. And with God's help, I can do it and so can you.
"If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" Luke 16:11 ESV
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time-he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and dominion. Amen." 1st Timothy 16:11-16 ESV
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