Manifesto #1: I will not rely on God for or ask Him to do the things in which He gave me charge
Providing and protecting your family is your god-given duty. Don’t hope in God to do those things for you.
Rule #1 from the Kill it and drag it home manifesto.
There are certain duties given to father’s and husbands by God. Provision, protection, and love are among some of them. God has delegated them to me and made me responsible for carrying them out. For me to “have faith” in God or pray for Him to do these things is abdicating my responsibility.
Prayer and faith should only come after I have done all I can do to meet the charge God has given me.
Soft Christian sentiments
God is in control
What does this saying even mean? For some, this is a clear theological statement that every atom in this world is controlled by God every second of every day. But for most it is just a vague idea that gets thrown around to sooth themselves when circumstances don’t go their way.
Are you enrolling your children into a godless education system hoping that the minds and souls of your young ones are preserved from an insistent and destructive worldview. Instead of taking the incredibly difficult step of yanking them out and, say, homeschool them, you think or say “they are in God’s hands.”
Is your pre-teen turning rebellious? Do you expect this because everyone at their age goes through it? Is it too tiring and emotionally exhausting to work on them every day? Don’t “give it to God”, it is yours at all times. You are their father and fatherhood is a slog at times. Don’t be weak, give up, and “give it to God”. Pull up your bootstraps, ask for advice, persist, have difficult conversations, sacrifice.
God will provide
God told you to provide and calls you out if you don’t (1 Timothy 5:8). If you have faith that God will provide for your family then you have it backwards. God has faith in you — that YOU can provide. Be encouraged in that and do it. Do it well.
What if the economy sucks? What if your kids need braces?
Don’t look at your wife and tell her “God will provide”. Tell her you will do whatever it takes to make ends meet. Give her a plan, tell her you will work extra, study more, change jobs, or whatever plan YOU come up with to be a better provider. God gave Jesus tax money from the mouth of a fish, but don’t go fishing when you should be learning a new skill or searching for a new job. Do whatever it takes to kill it and drag it home.