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For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23–24
The late Bill Glass was one of my heroes. Not only was this dynamic person—number 80, defensive end with the Cleveland Browns—a totally dominant force on the gridiron, but he was also a deeply committed Christian.
When Bill retired from the game, he started a prison ministry. Who better than a powerful football player—a man’s man—to challenge inmates to listen to an account from a Christ-following man, confess their sin, and receive God’s gift of grace? For many years during his talks to these prisoners, Bill would ask a question: “How many of you heard your fathers tell you that someday you’d wind up in a place like this?”
The overwhelming majority of these convicts would raise their hands. “Yes,” they would admit. “Based on what my dad told me, I fully expected to spend my life paying for my crimes.” This reality should grip you and me. First, it should lead us to understand the power of our words to our kids. Second, it should encourage us to be fathers who are worthy of being followed.
The words Paul wrote to the church in Rome should also grip us, as though Paul was our father: “For all have sinned,” he pronounced, “and fall short of the glory of God” (v. 23). Listen to Paul’s words: “You are sinners. You are headed for trouble. You don’t have a chance.”
But this was not the end of Paul’s report. When he had the people’s undivided attention, he added this: But you “are justified freely by his grace through the re- demption that is in Christ Jesus” (v. 24).
As children, these prisoners listening to Bill Glass had heard their dads tell them that they were sinners headed for certain imprisonment. It was appropriate for these fathers to tell their children they were sinners; these fathers, however, neglected to tell their sons that God’s amazing grace renders them innocent—it justifies them. Their sins have already been paid for in full. Their eternal sentences meted out. Yes, they would still need to pay for their crimes against society, but there would be no need to pay for their sin against God. This is the good news of the gospel for them and for us.
The message for you and me is crystal clear. First, we must preach this gospel message to ourselves. We are sinful men, destined to bondage, yet set free by Jesus’s death on the cross for us. Then we have a twofold responsibility. It’s imperative that our children understand they are sinners—sinful enough to land them in prison. Telling them this ought to be fairly effortless since there is plenty of evidence to go around. But please be sure they also know the part about being forgiven—that their sins are covered because of God’s loving grace fully available because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Men who only tell one of these two truths to their children make a monumental error. If all they talk about is the “falling short” stuff, their kids will live with the guilty assurance that they are sinners. And some of these cutting statements can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Ask the guys in Bill Glass’s meetings.
On the other hand, dads who only talk about grace fail to bring discipline and structure to their children. Although children with permissive fathers may not wind up in jail, their lives will, in fact, be a sentence. Lack of discipline is enslaving.
Make a point to talk to your kids about both sin and grace. And make sure you’re willing to use yourself and your own life as an example for them to follow.