I don’t know about you, but I have spent too much of my life as a grown man acting like a boy. It bothers me to know that many adult Christian men still live their life as a boy. Your heart and your character, not your age, are what qualify you as a man of God. This year I’ve discovered the heart of God in a deep way, and learned the importance of stepping into true Biblical manhood and what it looks like to do that. I have made a lot of mistakes and continually make them to this day, and that partly fuels my fire to lead other men not to make the same ones. I know I’m not perfect and that I’m a rescued sinner saved by grace like anyone else. So the words written here are words for me, just as they are for you.
The following 2-part blog is adapted in part from an amazing blog on the subject of Biblical manhood, called “Enduring Affection.” For the full article, you can view it here.
The choice for every man is clear – invest his life in what matters, or spend his days in what fades. History is built upon the courageous shoulders (and redeemed hearts) of men who have resisted the siren song of trivial amusements, and answered the call of godly virtue.
The choice is clear – play games for the moment, or produce fruit for eternity. Sadly, most men (Christian men) find that their lives are nothing more than playing games. Sports games. Video games. Games with relationships. Games with careers. Adult, approved-by-culture, winning-the-applause-of-many games.
But games, nonetheless.
Three years ago, these words of Jesus stopped me in my game-playing tracks…
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7: 21-23
That’s a scary thought. Right? To find out on the last day that your relationship with Christ was less about allegiance, and more about show. That it was more about “you” than it ever was about “Him.” That you were more a “fan” than you ever were a “follower.” Want to know what is tragic? To find out that your life was a game, a game that you eventually lost. Actually, the word “tragic” doesn’t even begin to describe that condition.
After talking with many women both on my Squad and back home, I have found that most are wondering where the real men of God are. The heartbreaking thing is that, for many of them, their expectations of men has dropped significantly. I’ve found that they expect less, because they find less and less “good” men. That sucks because I understand why they feel that way, and I am to blame for that as much as anyone else. In churches you find less and less men, and the same is true in the mission field. More young men than ever are trading a life abiding in Christ for a life climbing the corporate ladder of success. The sirens are going off. Can you hear it? If not, it might mean that you are the sweet little boy I’m talking about who needs to come under the authority of God, step up, grow up, and man up. Let God grow you into the leader He created you to be, and stop bringing others down by your unwillingness to lay hold of and move in His calling. Don’t let His daughters and your sisters down by leaving them to shoulder responsibilities, spiritually and otherwise, that He designed a man to have. I am NOT saying women don’t have responsibilities (even many of the same ones), what I am saying is that there are too many men who more often than not do not step up to their call as men. It is time we start acting like men.
Thankfully, God’s Word tells us how to avoid the alluring deception of game-playing, and to press toward real transformation into true manhood.
Continued….
Will The Real Men Please Stand Up (Part 2)
