My youngest son Joel was watching Disney’s “The Lion King” on video the other day, and once again I was reminded of how spiritually powerful the illustrations of the bond between a father and son in that movie really are.
Right from the opening scene when the young cub Simba is held up with pure celebration and absolute delight, truly the apple of his father’s eye, one is reminded of how important a father’s input is in the initiation of a boy to becoming a man. While I know that women are also instrumental and imperative in the raising of sons, there are some essential character traits and validations that a man can only receive from another man. And when the father is absent, it leaves a terrible void in the life of the boy.
This is what makes the scene of Scar’s interference a sobering reminder of how intentional the enemy tries to be in attempting to separate us boys from our fathers. In the story, the lion cub Simba is separated in his youth from his father Mufasa through a tragic murder that was superintended by the evil uncle. Scar sets it up so that Simba is caught in a stampede of wildebeests, knowing full well that his father, Mufasa, would risk his life to save his son. He does and when Simba is saved, Scar plays psychological mind games with the cub that accuses him and causes him to believe that he was the cause of his dad dying. In that desperate moment, Simba runs away and forgets who he really is because there is nobody loving and caring and strong enough to remind him.
In a memorable and inspiring and heart grabbing scene of this simple cartoon, while Simba is in the midst of doing nothing more than wasting the precious days of this gift we call life, and wandering far away from his genuine destiny, Mufasa appears to Simba in a dream to call him back to capturing the essence of who his cub was truly born to be, the son of the lion king.
One of the most awesome treasures that a father can give to his son is to consistently remind his boy who he truly is. If a father is not there to take care of that task, the world will definitely step in to lower the standard. The message of Mufasa is loud and very clear — “Don’t forget who you are, you are a child of a king.” And bringing that clip into the light of the culture that we live in, how many of us men are honestly living like chickens when we were born to soar like eagles?
Even if your earthly father has been nowhere to be found, the truth is you have been created in the image of a God who longs for you to discover the hope and the future that our Heavenly Father designed just with you in mind.
Author John Eldredge tells a touching story about a man who had a daily ritual each evening when he got home from work.
You see this father of three boys would change out of his “work” clothes and get into his “family” clothes. And once that happened, his boys would dig deep into his pockets to look for the treasures that “Dad” had provided for them that day in his business trousers. But to get to the good stuff, they had to wrestle their way past Daddy to get to the loot. The physical contact alone was a chance for the boys of all ages to be boys. And as for the bounty, well whether it was a quarter or a pen or a stick of gum or a piece of candy, the event itself was anticipated by these three boys, who every day couldn’t wait for their father to come home. They treated the experience as if they were going to get a million dollars. What a great thing to have linked with fatherhood, especially when we make the connection to God as our Father who longs to provide us with good and perfect gifts.
What gifts did your father give you when you were a boy? Men, what nuggets are you now bestowing to your own kids that will make them understand how special they are?
What do you see as some of the priceless possessions that God has given you? Are you living up to the potential of who you were born to be? Are you rejoicing in the fact that you are children of the King?
“Hakuna Matata” might be a nice cop-out for someone who wants to live his life with his eyes closed, but we know that into every life there are going to be a boatload of problems, and as my own father taught me how to fight and persevere and make it through the rain.
So I desire to offer the same strength to my own sons so that when the “scars” come along, they will know that if they look up and look out, what might have done them in only lifted them up to a new level in life. Can you feel the love tonight? If not- what’s stopping you?

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by writing pastorrudytlc@ comcast.net