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Here is a letter I have written for my four boys who are part of the Millennial Generation. The intent of the letter is to help my boys not fall into the millennial mentality of entitlement by giving them the contrast of moving from boys to men.
We need our boys to become leaders in this crazy world today. Perhaps it may stimulate some Dad's to be more strategic with our boys.
May God raise up a generation of men who would pursue an eternal impact in this temporal world!
This picture captures my grandson Declan's first steps! Looks like me trying to learn to walk again since my stroke!! He's my inspiration.
Watch Samuel, his daddy's, face. Nothing like the delight of a father's love for his son. A son will fight any battle, swim any creek, jump any hurdle, run any race, etc., to get a smile like that from his daddy.
We all are born with a desire to please our fathers. Why? Because God put it there in our hearts. We're born with it. A desire for His love and attention.
Take a look a look at what pleases God in Hebrews 11:6.
"God is watching our every move with anticipation of us having Him in our hearts and minds. He wants to reward those who come to Him!"
Therefore, my desire is to live in the audience of my Father. And that my Father would free me from the fear of men and fill me with the fear of God.
I want to walk in God's presence with my mind, with my ears, with my eyes, with my heart, with my words, with my hands and feet.
Because as Paul was quoted in Acts 17:28a "for in Him we live and move and exist..."
And please remember the apostle John said, "By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us." (1 John 4: 17-19)
Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
If you read the Gospels, Jesus was mostly with one, two or three of his disciples at at time! Rarely all 12.
In God's plan, maybe that"s how discipleship occurs best?
Many ministries today think bigger is better. But the result tends to be the spiritual impact of "an inch deep and a mile wide." So perhaps in God's economy smaller is better that leads to bigger.
Notice in Acts 1:8 how Jesus told the disciples to start small in Jerusalem and expand to all the earth! "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.
Sam Walton's philosophy in founding Walmart was, "Start small, Go deep, and Think big."
That's why Walmart started in smaller communities and captured the local markets and expanded from there. The rest is history! And so is the proclamation of gospel! Christianity is still the largest religion in the world.
I believe that is why Jesus only selected 12 to impact the world. That was His plan! A small band of brothers.
Of course, Judas was the betrayer, but look who took his place? Paul! The greatest evangelist of them all and he never met Jesus in the flesh! And he ended up writing the majority of the New Testament epistles that has formed the central tenants of the Christian faith.
Please considering reading Paul's words in 1 Cor. 15:1-19
Pretty cool!
Yours for an eternal impact.... Bill
