"But if it doesn't please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord."
Joshua 24:15
We often forget the opening position of this verse. In a similar way, we forget that any time we fail to serve the Lord, we are worshiping other gods. Even if we are doing good deeds, if they aren't done for the Lord then we are not fulfilling our duty to Him.
My wife and I watched Courageous last night. While there are a lot of things that could be said in a full artistic critique (and as an art teacher, it's very difficult to stay away from that, especially when I long for more like the classic The Ten Commandments)... instead, I would like to devote this post to the idea of courageous men. The premise of the movie, ultimately, is that it takes courage to be a husband and father who leads his house towards serving the Lord.
**SPOILER ALERT**
The movie depicts multiple fathers who endure various different struggles in their quests to do this. One loses his job and begs God to give him a way to take care of his family. One loses his daughter and begs God to help him be a better father to his remaining son. One makes the promise to lead his family towards the Lord, but doesn't stop stealing police drug-bust evidence, and from behind bars he begs a fellow officer to look after his son for him and not lose control the way he did. One has always had a family-focused mind because his own father left him, but he recognizes that being family-focused is not enough and begs God to help him lead, as well as to forgive his own father for leaving before he was born. One fathered a child in college, left the mother before his daughter was born, and begs God to allow him back into her life, to be a strong Godly influence in the lives of both mother and daughter, even though they haven't seen each other since the pregnancy.
**END SPOILER ALERT**
Mostly, the convictions of this movie bear down on the exact same convictions that my own personal walk through the bible have brought up. This study I've been going through has led me to desire the Lord's will more and more for myself and for my family. As the man of the house, it is my duty to teach my wife and son the ways of the Lord, to keep them accountable, to treat them with love and mercy, to remain faithful to them at all times (in thoughts, words, and actions), to provide for their well-being, and to lay down my life for them as Jesus laid His life down for me.
I don't plan to print this commitment out on premium stationery, frame it all fancy, dress up in a suit, and hold some big signing ceremony like they did in the movie (although my wife hinted that she might make me one of these for Father's Day, which I wouldn't mind). Ultimately, I do plan to allow the Lord to chisel this covenant into the stone of my hardened heart, so that He might break it, soften it, and allow it to serve Him always and in all ways.
Question of the Day:
Men, do you have the courage to stand for Christ all your days, to lead your families in His unfailing love? Women, do you have the grace to encourage your men as they take on this leadership role? Children, do you have the mercy to forgive your parents' wrongdoings and allow them to renew themselves and your whole family through faithful following of Christ?
Prayer of the Day:
Lord God Almight, all praises unto You! Guide me and all Your men to courageously step up to the plate, win back our families for You, and share the Word of the Gospel with those who need it most. Let Your Will be done through us and let us lift up Your Kingdom here on Earth. Give us the strength we need to face today. Forgive us for our past wrongdoing, and help us forgive those who have done us wrong. Lead us away from evil thoughts, words, and actions. Protect us from temptations which arise daily. We praise Your name, and we lift ourselves and our families up to You this day. Amen.
Question of the day: do you have the courage to find the truth?
ReplyDeletehttp://traditionalchristianity.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/courageous/
http://dalrock.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/firebombed/
http://www.singularity2050.com/2010/01/the-misandry-bubble.html
I'm not sure if your comment was directed towards me (the author) or towards my readers, but I appreciate your input.
DeleteI agree with the sentiment of the first two links you provided - that both Courageous and Fireproof are overly simplified and only attack one side of the problem, yet there is a lot for men to learn from them. I've barely made a dent in the third link (wow, that's a long essay on the topic), but for the most part it seems to be saying a lot of the same things I've been decrying for years.
Ultimately, I'd say that the intent of my post about the movie Courageous was to encourage men to be Godly men. Doing so requires first that we understand what being a Godly man means, which many people have forgotten because of our modern culture's lack of appreciation for physiological and psychosocial gender differences.
Men have a distinct role to play in the family. Women do, too, but I'm not one, so I didn't include that in my blog post (seeing as how this blog is primarily geared towards my own personal devotional needs, and only secondarily as help for others). So men have a role to play, and I believe that I have enough courage to discover what that role is.