Raising HopeSample

Going The Distance.

What’s your main aspiration as a man?

To make money, pay bills, manage your finances well? To advance your career, make a name for yourself, be successful? Maybe it’s to get admiration from people and be affirmed by the opinions of others?

While it’s noble to step up to the plate, be the provider and the protector, it can also become corruptible. Far too easily the aim goes from being someone others can depend on, to being self-dependent. The focus shifts all too quickly from being reliable and responsible to being respected.

You see, we like to be needed and this is a characteristic God built into us as men, but it’s also the position God must fill in our own lives. Our greatest need is for our Father God to provide for and protect us. For without Him we can’t be or accomplish anything. Without Him, we can’t go the distance. Not as men. Not as mentors.

Joseph realized this all too well. He went the distance and did everything that was expected of Jewish men in his time. He provided identity and shelter for his family, even if it was not extravagant. He set Jesus apart as his son in all the physical and spiritual ways expected of him by Jewish law. And then he went home and quietly raised his family as best he could. As a result, Jesus grew up, became strong and was filled with wisdom and grace.

But without the grace of God, Joseph could never have gone the distance himself. Especially in being an earthly father figure, a mentor, to Christ.

Many of us know we are called to complete tasks and live fulfilling lives. But we either shy away in a sense of fear and uncertainty, or simply because we lack the conviction to see things through. Or, on the flipside, we take up everything upon ourselves, thinking we can handle anything and find our own ways.

However, if you are to go the distance physically, spiritually, relationally, or professionally, you’ll need to realize your need for God and stay dependent upon Him.