Monday, October 12, 2015
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My story! Yeah, that's what made kids want to play with me when I was little. Wait a minute! Is this how "A Word With You" got started? No, I love to make up stories. I don't make them all up, you know, I do tell you true stories too. But I was giving my friends parts in a story that I would make up and they would act out. But I always left it at an exciting part that was this cliff-hanger so they'd want to come back tomorrow and see how it turned out. I also had some time, then, to figure out how to get out of the predicament I had just created.
Now, I've got to confess to you, I usually reserved the hero part for me. I loved to put a tablecloth around my neck and play Superman. Or I'd put swimming trunks on and be Tarzan. Or I'd put on a black mask and play the Lone Ranger. Today that would be Iron Man or Captain America. Look, I couldn't do all the moves of the super heroes, but I always wanted to be a hero. A lot of kids do. I don't think that ever changes.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Whose Hero?"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 17:6. This is a verse that will make every parent think. It's pretty quick. Listen. "Parents are the pride of their children." Wait a minute! Don't we usually think of that in reverse? "Oh, yeah. This is my pride and joy. Look at these pictures. These are my kids." But God says kids are supposed to feel that way about their mom and dad. They hold up their picture and they say, "Here's my Mom and Dad. They're my pride and joy."
I've been ministering to young people and their families for a long time. I've got to tell you, a lot of kids don't feel like that. One reason is this: their mom and dad have come up with the wrong answer to a very important life question, "Whose hero do you want to be?" See, we all need to be a hero to somebody; to some group of people. Some men and women work day and night to be a hero to their company, their friends, their boss, their community. "I want to be a hero at church, a hero in my organization." But sadly they're strangers to their own children; maybe to their own mate. And they're anything but a hero where it really counts – at home.
But if you're not a hero at home, are you really a hero at all? See, those are the people who know the real you; who've been trusted to your care by God. They were meant to be your primary zone of achievement. I don't mean creating super kids necessarily; just giving your children the best of your love, and the best of your listening, and the best of your energy, and the best of your time. Too often they get our leftovers.
Family is hard work. Because of that, it's tempting to run to other arenas where maybe it's easier to be a hero. And if we feel like we're not being a hero at home, sometimes we just give up and we run somewhere else for our fulfillment. But no other people can be your family or do for your soul what only a family can do. Could it be time to reevaluate your priorities? If you've not been what your family needs, if they've not been top priority, would you ask for their forgiveness?
You would not believe the walls that come down when a parent is willing to be vulnerable, to be wrong, to ask for forgiveness, to apologize, to ask for a chance at a new beginning. It's never too late to start putting your family first; even adult children still carry the need for the love, the affirmation and the blessing of the people from whom they came.
So, listen to this verse again. "Parents are the pride of their children." Whatever your priorities have been, why don't you make it your goal to make the rest of your years with your kids the best of your years. After all, you were meant to be a hero - at home.