Set up for success

Great Dad's set their kids up for success. Everything they do is training and equipping their kids to be successful in their own lives. In fact, probably the greatest tribute to any dad, is when his kids pass him out and succeed him, because he set them up for it.

How does a dad sets his kids up for success? Well, first and foremost is the example he sets them, integrity, diligence, how to treat people, kids watch everything and absorb even the smallest things. The next most important thing is the environment he creates for them. Encouragement, affirmation and protection all enable kids to prosper, to experiment, to take risks and to learn to succeed. Great dads cover their kids mistakes and failures so that fear of failure doesn't become their dominant emotion. Then risk taking becomes a positive experience and the chances of a successful outcome dramatically increases. A person who grows up believing they will fail, or afraid of the consequences of failure, usually does fail.

So what's all this got to do with our Father, God?
Like all great dad's He sets a great example. In fact He sets the perfect example. Jesus, divested himself of his divine attributes and came to earth as a man, constrained and confined by the same limitations as we have. Yet he lived a perfect life, not only not doing anything wrong, but doing everything right. He was perfect in every way, demonstrating to us how we too can do it, if we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, as he did.
But he didn't just set us a perfect example, he gives us everything we need to follow his example. When Jesus died on the cross he fully paid the legal penalty for each time every one of us has broken God's law, past, present and future. In fact he cancelled the laws under which we stood convicted, making them obsolete. He says if we believe in Him, He will create a new spirit inside us, one that is free of the addiction to breaking God's laws, free of the injuries and behaviour patterns that come with addiction, free of the inability to know God intimately, free to be the children of God we were originally designed to be. It's like He not only paid off our debts but He's also given us the downpayment for a new life. He's done everything to set us up for success. The only thing we have to do is accept the free gift. It would seem crazy not to.