ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH TO DIE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES?

Do you think you have what it takes?

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At times there seems to be a glorification of sacrifice. When a man will step out into the world and literally give his life for his loved ones. I wonder how many of you out there, honestly, would actually take a bullet for your wife or children.

If a train was about to strike your child dead, would you push them off the tracks and place yourself into harm’s way? If someone fired a bullet at your wife, would you jump in front of her and take the hit?

PERHAPS…

I do find it unfortunate that some would not be willing to do so, but it may be even worse that many others would only be willing to die once for their families.

Die once, what do you mean? Let’s face it, to actually take a bullet for someone else or die for them in some other way takes about a split-second of courage. After that, you’re a hero forever, right? Though the rest of your earthly life would be over in an instant, you would actually only have to suffer for a second in the flesh. In the grand scheme of things, that’s actually not that impressive.

Don’t get me wrong, to give up your life once for another human is a noble and virtuous thing, but I think that we can do better than that. Don’t your loved ones deserve more than just one second of putting them first? Don’t they perhaps need a little more than a tiny sliver of time where you chose them over yourself?

WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT PAPA? YOU GOT SOMETHING BETTER?

Honestly, I do think that there is room for improvement. I think that too many guys out there would be willing to die once for their young bride but then will still turn around and divorce that same woman who they would have died for five years down the road. I think that too many fathers would be willing to trade places with their children if it meant saving their young lives, but those same dads aren’t willing to spend more than a few moments a day with those same children.

Yeah, I’m talking about something a little deeper here. You see, “giving up your life doesn’t have to mean death.” Rather than just giving up the next few seconds for someone else and then dying, I’m talking about giving up the next few decades of your life for someone else. You can “give your life” for someone and still remain alive, it just takes a whole lot more effort. You can "die" to yourself daily so the sake of others by putting them first and putting your own selfish desires second.

YOU MAY NOT BE AS IMPORTANT AS YOU THINK

A selfish man alone in the world will remain just that, selfish and alone. He would have to deny his own desires too much to have a lasting relationship with a woman, and he would have to give up too much of his own ways to raise children.

Unfortunately, too many people wind up with spouses and children, and yet remain extremely selfish. This is why a lot of relationships do not work. The people in those relationships care a whole lot more about themselves than they do the other person.

I’d rather not just give @mama-pepper whatever love I have left after I’m done loving myself. I’d rather not give her whatever time is left after I’ve spent all day doing whatever I wanted to do. I’d basically be in a relationship with myself, and my wife would be along for the ride.

You see, to actually make a relationship work, you may have to put the other person first for more than a split-second. Yeah, and after you put them before yourself and prioritized their needs, wants, or desires above your own, you will still be alive, and mat get to do it all over again tomorrow, or maybe five minutes from now.

COMMITMENT

Not that very many people even get married anymore, but a relationship is a relationship. In marriage certain vows are usually made to show a commitment to the other person. Frequently, “til death do we part” is even thrown in there. Far too often, it seems that this is just done because it “sounds nice” or due to tradition, but I’m not talking about just saying it.

For me, I’ll be the husband of my wife until death, and the same goes for my children; I’ll be their father until I die. I have the freedom to divorce my wife and disown by children when they get old enough, but I don’t have to! I can choose to live a life that blesses and serves them. I can choose to give them all that I have, and not just what I have left. I can give up years of my life for them prior to death, rather than just a few seconds.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Look, none of us know when we are going to die, but we can choose what we do with our lives until then. Perhaps it would be wise to give up more of the life that you are already living for the sake of your family. Perhaps they even need you to.

I think that for far too long people have held the dead in high regard. The man who pushes his daughter out of traffic and gets killed instead certainly did do a good thing, make no mistake about it. However, the man who chose to put the lives of his children above his own for 20 years while he was raising them may have actually given up more of his life.

I don’t want to come off as condemning anyone here, but rather exhorting others. I think that we can all do a better job, and I think that our families deserve it. We may not get to choose to die for our loved ones, but we can choose to live for them. Let’s make sure to set an unselfish example for that next generation too, or we may just be setting them up for failure when it comes to their relationships and families.

In closing, I’ll leave you with two questions to ponder:

• Are you man enough to die for your loved ones?
• Are you man enough to live for your loved ones?

Until next time…

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