Courageousness

   Yesterday, my wife and I went to see Courageous. This is a wonderful movie that will make you laugh, cry, and think. Most of all, to think.


   The premise of Courageous is men resolving to be men. Men who love their wives, their children, and yes; the Lord. Men who are willing and determined to be the best that they can be; to take the responsibility for themselves and their families.


   Take a look around you. What do you see? You see chaos, strife, unrest. You see class warfare. You see hatred. You see immorality running rampant. The world is spinning out of control. The nations are raging. The prospects of peace are nil, and the likelihood of war is immense.  


   Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and  do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.--James 4:1-2


   Lustful desire and irrational selfishness contribute to war and strife; hatred and animosity. The world is full of iniquity. But what would happen if men became what they were designed to be?


   Imagine, as in Courageous, that a few men began to take their responsibilities seriously, I mean really seriously. You see, a man is the ordained head of his household. When a man steps up to the plate and begins to act and live in the manner he was intended, his family follows suit. When a man and his wife are one flesh as they should be, they become the most powerful agents of moral instruction in existence, more so than the Church. More so than the law. More so than the government. 


   Contrary to what the liberal intellectuals will tell you; kids need their dads. If you're looking for proof, open your eyes to the chaos around you. We are witnessing a whole generation of young people who have little or no direction. Look at the prisons overflowing with young men who are serving time for stealing, killing, and destroying; stealing from their neighbors, killing their fellow man, destroying their own lives. If you ask these young men about their lives and their families, you'll find a common theme: Fatherlessness. Vast numbers of these young men have never had a relationship with their fathers. Many of them have never even met their fathers. Young boys need their dads to step up to the plate and teach them what it means to be responsible men themselves.


   Fathers aren't only vital to the well being of their sons, they are vital to the well being of young girls as well.  A girl needs her dad.  She needs him to be an example to her of what a man is supposed to be.  How many young women do you see on a daily basis that are struggling to raise kids on their own because they looked to a man who didn't know what being a man is for their self worth? How many of these girls gave themselves sexually to an immature boy with no idea of manhood because of words of adoration she should have heard from her dad?  Men, your little girls need to hear you tell them that they are special, that they are adored, that they are beautiful. They need their fathers to display the love, protection, and adoration for them that they should look for in a husband. They need that more than you can imagine.


   Men are not only needed in the family; they are needed in this country. America, in my honest opinion, is in a drought.  She is starving for men of integrity.  She is dying for the lack of courage among her men today.  Look at the state of things around you.  This nation is $14 trillion in debt.  Responsible men, courageous men, honest men, men of integrity would not allow this to happen.  We have abdicated our responsibility to not only vet and seek out good men to lead us, but to hold them accountable when they don't.  We cannot allow what has happened any longer.  


   How can we sit back and watch things like the Solyndra scandal to occur and do nothing about it?  How can we sit by and watch evil people ruin a good woman like Sarah Palin, and her family?  How can we be silent about 50 million sons and daughters systematically eliminated in the womb under the guise of "choice"?  How long do we continue to watch evil overlooked while righteousness is oppressed?  


   How can we sit still and allow our economy to be destroyed?  How can we be passive about a weakened America, which leads to a more unstable and dangerous world?  How can we look our children in the eye and tell them that their future is bleak because we were weak?


   Will we be the generation of men who presided over the destruction of our families, our communities, and our nation because we didn't have the courage to stand up?  Will we refuse to be Courageous?


   May it not be so.