Our culture, our values, our system of relationship is handed down from generation to generation.  Regardless of your community or sub-culture, the responsibility of passing down values now rests on your shoulders… and you are carrying that burden whether you like it or not.  The decline or improvement of society is now in your hands.  What are you going to do about that?

I know many guys that are angry and reckless with life and if you get a glimpse into their past, you can see that it was taught to them.  I also know some pushover; weak men that couldn’t say boo to their own shadow – paralyzed with fear.  Both learned this destructive life from their role models… whether they wanted it or not.

You are who you were raised to be.  You learned to relate to your children, your wife, your girlfriend, and your friends the way you were taught.  Whether you were raised with tough love, no love, mushy love, anger, hate, or simply without emotion… you will repeat your childhood in your adulthood.  So here you are.  It’s time now for you to pass along what it looks like to be a man, a dad, a brother, a husband, or a friend.  How are you doing with that?

Our culture needs all of us to step up and lead.  To grow beyond our adolescent pursuits and begin teaching through actions.  Your children want you to be strong, firm, but loving.  Your wife wants you to be decisive, assertive, and passionate.  Your friends want you to be accountable and someone they can depend on.  Are you?

You are the role model for the next generation, so don’t screw it up. Being a man of faith means that you have to come to grips with the fact that everyone is watching you.  Regardless of your stature, your position, your place… you are someone’s hero.  Someone is watching your every move.

There is a guy that I know who is up against a wall.  He lost his wife, lost his job, can’t read, and is left to raise 4 children on his own.  Every day this guy wakes up and decides whether or not to eat or pay the power bill.  To look at him, you can tell he’s had it rougher than most… but he’s strong.  He loves his kids deeply, disciplines them, and demands that they learn to read so they can have a better life than he can provide.  He is in touch with the basics of life… shrugs off the trappings of everyday life and clings to the hope of his faith in Christ.  This guy is a role model.

It doesn’t matter how much you have or how little you have, at the end of each day you should ask yourself whether or not you’ve created goodness or left a trail of hell for someone else to fight through.  How you live your life and your decisions impact the people around you.

As a dad, I am overwhelmed at the everlasting impact that I am making on my daughter.  I realize that for her, I am the reality that she will mold her adult life around. How does she see me treat her mother?  How does she see me react to tough situations?  How does she hear me talk?  Does she know I love her if I say nothing at all?

These are the important questions we need to ask ourselves each day.  For me, if I don’t do my job at loving others, then my daughter will never know what that looks like.  How can she then teach her children how to love others if she never observed it herself?

Your life has nothing to do with how much you earn or how “together” you may seem to have things.  If you can’t love your family and others… then you’ve simply wasted your life.  If you know how to love, but don’t do it… go correct that…now.  If you don’t know how… pray to God to show you how… and He will.

Living the life of a role model is tough… and it can’t be avoided.  God has given each of us a role model to follow – Jesus Christ.  Take a look at how he interacted with friends, family, and community.  Observe how he taught through is actions.  Are you willing to take your life to the cross for your friends, family, and the ones you love?  If you agree to follow Christ, then you agree to sacrifice yourself for others… with deep love.

You are ready to do this.  Grab a few buddies and lead into it.  They’re watching.

Continue reading the series:  The Wanted Man.
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