A Father Figure

You can’t give away what you don’t have. And you only have what you have received.

There is a crisis in this nation and it starts with the word respect. A person can only receive in any significant way from someone whom he respects. Sure, there is a receiving of the negative from any source of pain or ugliness. But I’m talking about receiving the good stuff … receiving that something special that activates the life that God has put within us. To open the door to receive the good stuff, there must be respect.

Then there is integrity. We need some heroes who live the consistent kind of life that is worthy of respect.

God has designed us so that we will never be who we were created to be until that deep something inside us is activated by the blessing of a father type figure. It doesn’t have to be a male doing the blessing, but there is something about someone who is seen as a father figure that impacts us differently than the blessing of a mother figure.

We can be blessed over and over again by many … and it can do no good. It must be someone who has been given the kind of respect, the kind of authority to speak the blessing. There must be a choice on the part of the receiver to honor … and thus to receive.

We have thrown away heroes, partially because few are living the life worthy to be a hero. Few are living the life of heroes because they never received what they needed to activate the life of God in them. We had a generation that threw away respect of parents and now we have become a throw away generation (Malachi 4:6).

Receiving Requires the Giving of Respect

There is a power within, that God has placed in each one of us, that waits to be unleashed. But for there to be an unleashing, there must be an honoring of a hero. And there are few heroes.

Maybe in the short term, we need to learn to honor those who can be honored in whatever area they can be honored. Maybe, just maybe, that would start the process of restoration.

We live in a time when there is a torrent of destructive things said about anyone and everyone who would dare to take any kind of leadership role. I think we can see where that is taking us … and it is not good.

Do you have a father? Do you have a hero? Do you have someone whom you respect enough that you can get your God person activated? You need that if you are going to live the life of a hero. Respect is a choice. Are you making that choice?

When you study the lives of great men and women, there has almost always been an apparent father figure—a mentor who spoke into their lives. Who is your father? God has spoken. Receive from Him. But most of us need skin to speak to us and to touch us. Who is your earthly father? Your earthly hero?

None are worthy of total honor. But the choice to disrespect all has been a choice of death for our nation’s future. Can we change the track of our nation? Can we again choose the pathway of honoring others?