Hope it is ok I have this up early. For a project Mom had recently asked our family to submit a bible verse that was our “family verse.” I thought I would share with your our family verse and why I chose it.
- Mark 8: 35-38
“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
For what can a man give in return for his soul?
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
When you are responsible for raising a boy, or in my case three, you are raising a future leader of his own family. Men often find their identity in how they provide for their family. Sometimes the drive to be successful and have the latest toys skews a man’s perspective of what is really important.
With this as our family verse my boys are reminded there is more to life than money. A man can become successful, have the latest toys, hang out with the coolest people, yet be very lost at the same time (Christians and non-Christians alike). Many spend their whole life trying to become richer, trying to have more and more stuff, and I wonder “When is it ever enough?” But if you are a man rooted firmly in what God calls successful you will be blessed beyond your imagination. Mind you the blessings may not come in the form of monetary wealth, but it will be more than you have ever dreamed or hoped for. Besides my own sons salvation, that is the one truth I want them to carry in their heart when they are raising their own families.
And the last part of the verse spurs me on. If God calls me to teach or speak about him and I begin to utter words of insecurity, comfort zone, or lack of talent the Lord leads me to the words, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
I strive to be God’s delight and to not be ashamed.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love. Psalm 147:10-11
