June 22, 2009
We Were Soldiers. There I sat in the plane with my new lap top – complete with DVD player. My new stereo ear phones neatly stuffed into my ears. A long flight ahead of me with a great “man” movie to watch. I put the DVD into my computer and readied myself to watch the movie. As I sat there waiting for the movie to start, I read the DVD jacket – “We Were Soldiers – Fathers. Brothers. Husbands. Sons.”
I felt like the Lord say, “Yes, but wrong order.”
What? What does that mean? “…wrong order.”? As I began to ponder this for a number of months afterwards, I began to realize that there is a God-ordained order to our masculinity. There is a sequence. A progression of sorts. All who we are and all that we do needs to be built on the foundation of our sonship. The basis of who we are as men is our position as beloved sons of God. Everything comes out of that revelation. That validation. That affirmation. We are beloved sons first and foremost – before all else. Even Jesus needed this revelation. Of all the things that His Father could have said to Him at His baptism, the Father chose to affirm Jesus’ position as a beloved son.
There is no way that we can be the brother God has called us to be if we do not understand that we are beloved sons of God. And indeed, we need to understand that we are brothers, because following Jesus is a team game. We need each other to walk with Him in this epic adventure.
We are significantly handicapped as husbands if we do not know how to walk as brothers. We certainly need the support of our brothers in the adventure of marriage. And, we must know how to walk as a husband in the adventure of fatherhood, knowing that one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is a strong marriage.
Notice the sequence: Sons. Brothers. Husbands. Fathers. You are a beloved son above all else.
Galatians 4: 4-7
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
Strength and courage,
David MacLean