There’s something special about an older brother who watches out for his sister. Just the other day, your sister ambled toward the road in front of our house, and little two-year-old you yelled with a sense of urgency, “No Tia! No!”
That is the voice of a boy who gets that his place in the world is bigger than him. Even now.
Sometimes I’ll snatch Kaylee up and snuggle a little longer than she wants. You’re always watching, and usually you chirp in with, “Da-ey, Tia down.”
Okay, I get it buddy. Slower than you.
I can see how God is forming you now.
And someday he will use this protective nature to lead the church. That is his call upon the masculine soul.
Listen to what Moses told Joshua,
Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them…. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31.7-8)
You don’t need to worry as insurmountable problems turn from making sure your room is flooded with light before you go to sleep to tucking in the church and comforting her fears as she rests in the Light, because God will be with you.
He will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail nor abandon you.
One wise old Bible study leader I had, when discipling young men, pointed to this passage and said three times, “Be courageous. Be courageous. Be very courageous.” This is the call to the riskiest and most exciting life of manhood. It is a call to courage. Adventure. Risk. And eternal life.
Your Empa Demsick taught Daddy this:
There are four pillars to being a man. This is exactly what manhood is. Here they are.
- Reject Passivity
- Accept Responsibility
- Lead Courageously
- Expect the Greater Reward (God’s Reward)
This is the call to manhood. It is specifically my call to you as a Demsick boy who will become a Demsick man. It is the legacy of your grandfather, Empa Demsick. And now this legacy I pass on to you. Lead courageously.
The church is begging for men who will stand up and lead her. Men of courage. Men of valor. Men of strength. Men whose character is built on the Rock of Christ’s Word. And men whose lives are built on Christ alone. Christ and his Word.
When you do lead courageously, this is how you will do it, just as the apostle Luke you were named after did:
I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels. But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels. (Luke 12.8-9)
He didn’t back down when his number was called by the world. He stood up and owned his one and only love — his Savior, Jesus Christ. He stood up as a man. As the old hymn says, Luke did this,
Rise up, O’ Man of God, the church for you doth wait. Her strength unequal to her task, rise up and make her great.
Moses taught Joshua to reject being afraid or discouraged, two of the main temptations a leader faces, that challenge a risk-taker for Christ to back down. Your Daddy teaches them to you now, Little Warrior for God.
Because you are the next in this line of godly men who will lead the church. Who will stand up and publicly acknowledge the Lord. Who reject passivity, the temptation to do nothing, who accept responsibility, the call to take the care of the people around him on himself, as you did with your sister at the road. Who lead courageously, knowing the call of a man is to be a Warrior for Christ, bold and unrelenting, and who expect God, our God, to be with us. Personally one step ahead of us on our journey.
In light of this, there is nothing to fear. Nothing to discourage. God is with us.
Your Empa Demsick, your grandpa, leads courageously. Your Daddy leads courageously. And someday you, my son, will too. You will lead the next generation in Him. Perhaps, I wonder as I watch you bound past with a little beauty who adores you a few yards behind, perhaps you already do.
About John-Peter Demsick
This goes with the April 7th reading of the One Year Bible.