Men

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

As Father’s Day comes to a close, I want to tell men “thank you” for being men, and especially to those who are active and passionate in your calling as fathers.

I know that you are proud. I also know you live your life in fear that you will be found out as the fraud you believe you are.

You think that if you talk too much about your feelings, you will be accused of weakness. Or worse, someone might realize you have a mental or emotional problem which, again, must be the fault of weakness.

You believe that any imperfection is your fault – it’s why you don’t go to the doctor, because he might find something wrong with you.

You think you can keep it together if you try hard enough, and when things fall apart you feel as though the whole world is judging you to be a failure as a man.

You struggle with your inability to meet an impossible standard of manliness.

Your heart breaks because you don’t feel like you could ever live up to the high calling of a husband or a father.

But what you don’t understand is that through the blood of Jesus, your heavenly Father sees you as you were created to be – who you were redeemed to be.

He doesn’t see your failures.

He doesn’t shake His head because you have to pay someone else to fix your car.

He doesn’t look down on you for all the projects you’ve never finished.

God sees you as the man you believe you can be – or maybe as the man you think you could never be.

Whoever you are, in whatever roles you are called to serve, God has gifted, equipped and called you to serve there.

You have been saved by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus.

And Jesus died to save sinful men: to save men who lose their temper too easily with their children and men who resent their wives; to save men who are too proud and men who are terrified of failure; to save deadbeat dads and abusive husbands; to save men who would rather be on a golf course or in a boat than at the dinner table and men who are grumpy because they had to turn off the ballgame so the kids could watch The Boss Baby again.

Men like you.

You are loved and you are forgiven. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are a marvelous work of God. God has called you to be uniquely you and not someone else. He has called you to trust in His great love for you – and He has called you to show His love to those around you.

So thank you for being who He has called you to be (whether you feel like it or not), and thank you for being in our lives.

May the God of grace and mercy bless all men, Amen.

Happy Father’s Day.