The problem for many of us is that wise living isn’t always nice and pleasant. A wise man is sometimes hard to get along with.  A wise parent sometimes appears mean. Writes Marilyn Chandler McEntyre: “One of my husband’s finer moments in parenting came one day when, after he had uttered an unwelcome word of correction to a disgruntled child, he leaned down, looked her in the eye, and said, ‘Honey, this is what love looks like.’ Love, in that case, must have seemed to her a far cry from nice.”

Mark Galli, managing editor of Christianity Today, writes in his excellent and upcoming book Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of An Untamable God, “We are assaulted with messages about grace and love, sweetness and light, freedom and peace… And all of this is true in some respects, thank God. But we risk lying to others, we risk lying to ourselves, if we don’t fill out this picture.”

That’s what we need to do this Father’s Day and many more to come: fill in the picture, the way Jesus did when he told us we can’t just get by on moral fiber. More is required in order to be his fruitful disciple. 

Here’s what I mean about completing the picture and in the process bring needed balance to men. We often preach about the virtue of generosity without telling our congregations that there’s an end to wise generosity. More so, there’s a time when generosity with valuable things (God’s holy word, our resources, energy, and talents) is sinful as found in Jesus’ own words. “No not give dogs what is holy and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matt. 7:6). How can one tell the difference between genuine generosity and stupid generosity? You guessed it: the wisdom of serpents, which we aren’t born with. We need to learn more about it this Sunday and many more to come.