Your Dad Owns the Company: Discipline, Courage, and Dependence on God

I was laying in bed recently, and an article I read years ago popped into my head.

The article interviewed the brightest young minds in business (C-suite people who achieved success at incredible pace).

One man they interviewed was in the worldwide 30 under 30 category. He was the vice president of a large tech company that was growing exponentially. They asked him to what he contributed his success at such a young age. He told them that there were three things that made him successful:

1. He wakes up at 4:30 AM every day. He doesn’t do this to plan or stress about the day, but he does so to read and have some quiet time to himself.

2. He takes cold showers. Before he gets out of the shower, he turns off the hot water and stands in the cold water for as long as he can.

3. He grins and simply says, “My dad owns the company.”

I realized that if this were a sermon, it would be three perfect points for what we are called to do as men.

Point #1: We are called to put disciplines in our life.

Scripture outlines spiritual disciplines into two categories.

1. Disciplines of abstinence: Removing noise and distractions, food, possessions, the desire to spend money, etc.

2. Disciplines of engagement: Adding things to your life like reading, praying, Scripture memorization, service to others, worship, discernment, etc. Doing so is life-changing, and you will soon begin to see your life and worldview change.

Point #2: We are called to do hard things.

I don’t know if you have ever taken a cold shower, but it’s not easy. As men, it’s our job to hit the hard things head on; we can’t duck them. We are called to do this for our families, for each other, and even strangers. When we bring our lives out from under the blanket of fear and into the submission of Gods purpose, it’s probably going to look a lot like hard work. Think of every powerful move of God in Scripture; it was never accomplished by just God doing it. It always required an obedient and fearless man of God to do the hard thing he was asked to do.

Point #3: Know our “Dad” owns the company.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, know your “Dad” owns the company. We are men: fathers, husbands, leaders, business owners, you name it. But in the end, we don’t achieve any of these things without acknowledging who our “Dad” is. We need to understand that none of what we achieve in life is solely because of “us,” rather it is because of His grace, His kindness, and His will that we are blessed and highly favored in all these facets of life.

Take steps today to build disciplines into your life, do the hard things, and don’t forget to give your “Dad” the credit.