This week, I do not want to look at just perseverance, but the lack of perseverance in a man’s spiritual leadership and what often happens when it is not a strong element of his daily walk and personal/family leadership. We do not live in a culture that exhibits a lot of perseverance and staying power. Our culture wants a quick fix, an easy answer or an easy way out. Look at divorce and abortion today. People look for the fast way out, only to find that the next trials have their own set of problems and impacts. One foundation of success is perseverance in life itself, marriage, parenting, work and spiritual leadership. A man must be the spiritual leader who does not abandon his God mandated leadership responsibilities. Men must persevere in marriage and fatherhood and know that they will always have trials and times of difficulty. That is how life works. Look at these statistics in America which confirm why men must persevere and the impact when they don’t:

• Over 40% or 24 million of all children do not live in the home of their biological father. This amounts to 400 football stadiums with 60,000 in attendance.
• Over 18 million children go to bed each night without any father in the home.
• 70% of men in prison had no father in the home.
• 63% of youth suicides come from fatherless homes.
• 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
• 84% of child abuse occurs in single mother homes.
• 66% of children in poverty live in single mother homes.
• 90% of homeless and runaway children come from fatherless homes.

These alarming data come from a classic book by David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem. Men, live out the following Scripture as you lead your life and family: I Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to your life and doctrine; persevere in them, for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” Don’t add to the growing statistics of our culture, but add to the Kingdom of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who persevered all the way to the cross for us.