How My Son is Learning to Pursue

In my last post, I talked about how men are called to pursue and add energy to the world. In living out God’s call for our lives, we must reject passivity. Likewise, as a dad to two sons, I am in the process of training my sons to reject passivity in their own lives.     From Me to My Sons I don’t want my sons to be passive. I want my sons to pursue. When they see a need, or when they see a chance to make their community or world better, I want them to go after it. And when someone does a kind act for them, they need to go thank them, either in person or with a thank you note. When they hurt someone, they need to pursue the relationship to make amends. Likewise, when someone causes them pain, I want my sons to take the first step towards reconciliation, instead of mulling over their hurt and bitterness. When they want to be in a relationship with a girl, they must pursue her and not force her to lead the relationship. When they fall off their bike, make a bad play while competing in sports, or make a terrible grade in school, I understand that they may feel frustrated. But they need to get up and get back at it. Pursuing means focusing on the future with hope, not living in fear or regretting the past. My children are learning to pursue as the do their household responsibilities. When they do their part, they are pursuing and making our family better. Pursuing doesn’t mean they have to be perfect (which is a struggle for my older son). But pursuing does mean working hard and taking responsibility for his actions. Pursuing means seeing trash on the sidewalk, and picking it up.  And pursuing means they look for ways to encourage others and make their lives brighter. When he sees a friend, stranger, or even a competitor excel, pursuing means giving them appropriate praise. I want my sons to actively make the world a better place and to bless others’ lives. I want them to pursue, just as Jesus pursued and pursues us.   From Me and My Sons to Jesus So where is the hope? Do we have hope in my sons working harder? Should we rely on our own tenacity and strategies to live a good life? Should we keep a scorecard and record of every time they fall into passivity? Absolutely not! On our own, we can never work hard enough to undo the effects of the Curse. For all history, all of us men fell under condemnation for Adam’s sin, his sin of passivity. But through Jesus, we are made righteous (Romans 5:18-19). Yes, we need to live to make the world better. We need to serve others and bless them. We need to be less passive. But we need to trust in Jesus and the Holy Spirit to change us, to give us the will and heart to reject passivity. In Christ, we are not identified by the failure of Adam. Instead, we are united with Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection. While it is a sin to passively reject opportunities to do good works, the worse thing we can do is reject the One who did the greatest work of all.  

“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”  Romans 5:15