Pride blinds us spiritually, as illustrated in the life of the famous boxer Muhammad Ali. As the story goes, Ali was asked by a flight attendant to put on his seat belt before the plane took off. He shot back, “Superman don’t need no seat belt.” To that she replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane.” Obadiah 1:3 says, “The pride of your heart has deceived you …” The Lord detests all the proud of heart. You can be sure of this: They will not go unpunished (Prov. 16:5). But there is encouragement; keep reading.
Often, it is the father who wanders first because the enemy is relentless and goes after those who are called to lead. “Today, virtually every societal problem, social injustice and behavioral abnormality can be traced back to absent, delinquent, misbehaving, drunk, or sexually immoral dads who didn’t respect or understand their enormous calling” (Kenny Luck). Kenny continues, “Girls often find themselves mistreated, miscast, misused, and undervalued. What they need is guidance, esteem, honor and worth that only a father can give. The same goes for boys. They just have a different set of statistics. Men are appointed by God to make our children secure. God’s highest calling for man is to be a husband or father.”
Men, stop the silly video games, get off of Facebook, kill your porn habit, tell your ungodly friends to hit the road. You’re called to lead, love and die, if necessary, for your family. We are the reason that the nation is deteriorating. We are the reason the family is breaking down. We must stop blaming everything from God to the government and start taking responsibility.
The Daily Report recently posted this alarming fact, “America’s divorce rate is the highest in the civilized world: triple that of Great Britain and France.” The article went on to say that “children of divorce are three times as likely as those from intact homes to be expelled from school or to have a baby out of wedlock as a teenager, six times as apt to live in poverty and are far more likely to be incarcerated. However, statistics do not reveal the emotional pain of divorce, which is always particularly devastating for children.”
Michael Reagan, the son of Ronald Reagan, wrote of his parents’ divorce, “Divorce is where two adults take everything that matters to a child—the child’s home, family, security, and sense of being loved and protected—and they smash it [to pieces], leave it in ruins on the floor, then walk out and leave the child to clean up the mess.”
You may say, “Shane, this hurts!” Sometimes it is healthy to mourn and weep at the mess we’ve created. The wanderer within must be dealt a swift blow. He needs to be crucified, not coddled.
In the depths of a despairing world, especially for children, we cannot forget about God’s grace and love. You may feel that you’ve done too much damage, but don’t lose heart.
You will be amazed at what God can do with humility, brokenness and repentance. You may not be able to change your circumstances immediately, but God can change your heart from a wanderer to a worshipper, and re-position you back into the center of His will. It’s not too late … turn to Him today. 
