To My Sons

You are probably not going to receive what I received.  When I was growing up my parents moved up through the middle class.  They went from working class, to lower middle class, to middle-middle class.  I got to go to college and seminary.  I did not have to put myself into huge debt to do it.

I got to go to college when neither of my parents did.  I make more money than my parents did at my age, even if you adjust for inflation.  In other words, I inherited a better world than my father did.  He inherited a better world than his father.

But I don't think that is going to be the case for you.  And I am not really talking about economics.  That is just one example.  But the world, not just the USA, is a changing place, and from my estimation, not for the better.

Technology is advancing, and this can certainly be good.  Better medicine.  Easier lives.  But it has its costs, and we have largely lost the ability to analyze them.

That is what really scares me about the future.  Not the economy.  Not the technology.  Not the political dysfunction.  It is the inability to think and speak about right and wrong, virtue and vice.  We just don't get it anymore.

So my prayer for you, my sons, is not that you will inherit a better world.  You might, but I doubt it.

My prayer is that you will be better men.  Be a better man than I am.

Be the man that Jesus Christ has called you to be: repentant, forgiven, rejoicing.

Be ready to admit your faults.  There is no point in denying them.  Just fess up to God and whoever you have hurt.

Receive the forgiveness that Jesus freely won and offers.  Don't try to make it on your own.  Don't try to earn your place in God's kingdom.  You won't.

And rejoice in all that is your in Christ.  Let His forgiveness make you bold.  Let His Word guide your thinking to give you wisdom that is not from this world.  Let it give you the courage to do the things that I was always afraid to do.  Let it drive you to extraordinary things.

I pray that God will mold you through His Word to be a better man than me.  He is faithful.  While I lack confidence in the world, I have the utmost confidence in our Lord Jesus.  And that gives me great hope for your future.       

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