"Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth." John Wesley
Q: How does God define a man?
A: Jesus of Nazareth (Bible)
Goosebumps covered me from head to toe in the choir loft. One hundred and one men leading the congregation in the worship of the Holy One of Israel. Words fail to describe the feeling of standing up there with 100 other men, I being the least among them, and singing "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less," and "It is Well" before the church.
There's a blessing with being a man of Christ. There's also an incredible challenge, but that goes with the blessing. The challenge: to think that I am called to be some sort of a spiritual head, in the likeness of the ideal Man. That, I think, at least for me, is the single most intimidating thoughts that crosses my mind.
Now I sit here and watch Dateline, you know, the episode where they catch internet predators... I know, not particularly the greatest of subject matters, but I feel it relates. Why does it relate? You watch this show, and you understand why the fact that Jesus Christ is our model for masculinity: the men on this show are not doing anything out of the ordinary! Yep, I said it. These disgusting, heartless, perverted low-lifes, some of whom have wives, are not an inch lower than any of the rest of us. Dateline didn't have to scrape the bottom of society to find what we would call such "horrible people." These are actually prime specimens of humankind, doing exactly what we find natural (Ephesians 2... go ahead, take a look at it. See if I'm just joshing you) That is the intimidation factor. These sinners are nothing worse than Wesley Sims. I am of the same stock. We all share the same DNA, the only difference being that I have the genes and protein patterns for such things as brown hair and a naturally cut physique (HAH).
Look at that. We are all of the same sort as the men on this show. Herein lies the mystery of the true "burly" man, the whole reason why I marvel that I am blessed to know such men. See, the world sees those guys as "them," while at the same time breeding that very creature. I speak almost in a third-person perspective of the world, but I only do that now because I'm speaking from my present position of being in Christ's righteousness. How does the world breed these creatures? Think of all that the world defines as being manly: stay home on Sundays to watch the game; pick up as many women as you can, cause the higher the number, the higher the score; be lazy (guilty), or the flip-side, work hard all week just so you can party all weekend and drink up all that you earned (country music, anyone?); get you a nice car, perhaps a sports car, or a ridiculously large truck that can haul all the crap that you buy so you can impress the ladeez; have the kind of abs that you could scrap paint off of a wall; catch a football... you can't do basic math, but by God, you can run the best looking Statue of Liberty ever, and the list goes on. Well, I'm going to say it now (not that there's necessarily inherent sin in all that I listed) what the world labels as a man, our Father above calls a loser, and embarrassment, a FOOL!
See, that's the challenge for a Christian guy.... to overcome his natural state...
Boo hoo
Us guys have absolutely NO excuse since:
If we had no such Saviour, we'd have EVERY reason to be sick, to be dead, for we'd only be doing that which comes natural. PRAISE GOD that that's NOT the case, huh? And for that reason, we boys need to be absolutely shamelessly shameless of the Gospel, because we can, for that is what God defines as a man. Real men are those, who by faith, "desire a better coutry, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God IS NOT ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:16).
Since I'm already in Hebrews, how about I pull out a little bit more out of the Book as to some of the adventures of real men, as how God counts 'em:
A: Jesus of Nazareth (Bible)
Goosebumps covered me from head to toe in the choir loft. One hundred and one men leading the congregation in the worship of the Holy One of Israel. Words fail to describe the feeling of standing up there with 100 other men, I being the least among them, and singing "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less," and "It is Well" before the church.
There's a blessing with being a man of Christ. There's also an incredible challenge, but that goes with the blessing. The challenge: to think that I am called to be some sort of a spiritual head, in the likeness of the ideal Man. That, I think, at least for me, is the single most intimidating thoughts that crosses my mind.
Now I sit here and watch Dateline, you know, the episode where they catch internet predators... I know, not particularly the greatest of subject matters, but I feel it relates. Why does it relate? You watch this show, and you understand why the fact that Jesus Christ is our model for masculinity: the men on this show are not doing anything out of the ordinary! Yep, I said it. These disgusting, heartless, perverted low-lifes, some of whom have wives, are not an inch lower than any of the rest of us. Dateline didn't have to scrape the bottom of society to find what we would call such "horrible people." These are actually prime specimens of humankind, doing exactly what we find natural (Ephesians 2... go ahead, take a look at it. See if I'm just joshing you) That is the intimidation factor. These sinners are nothing worse than Wesley Sims. I am of the same stock. We all share the same DNA, the only difference being that I have the genes and protein patterns for such things as brown hair and a naturally cut physique (HAH).
Look at that. We are all of the same sort as the men on this show. Herein lies the mystery of the true "burly" man, the whole reason why I marvel that I am blessed to know such men. See, the world sees those guys as "them," while at the same time breeding that very creature. I speak almost in a third-person perspective of the world, but I only do that now because I'm speaking from my present position of being in Christ's righteousness. How does the world breed these creatures? Think of all that the world defines as being manly: stay home on Sundays to watch the game; pick up as many women as you can, cause the higher the number, the higher the score; be lazy (guilty), or the flip-side, work hard all week just so you can party all weekend and drink up all that you earned (country music, anyone?); get you a nice car, perhaps a sports car, or a ridiculously large truck that can haul all the crap that you buy so you can impress the ladeez; have the kind of abs that you could scrap paint off of a wall; catch a football... you can't do basic math, but by God, you can run the best looking Statue of Liberty ever, and the list goes on. Well, I'm going to say it now (not that there's necessarily inherent sin in all that I listed) what the world labels as a man, our Father above calls a loser, and embarrassment, a FOOL!
See, that's the challenge for a Christian guy.... to overcome his natural state...
Boo hoo
Us guys have absolutely NO excuse since:
"we have a great high Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)
If we had no such Saviour, we'd have EVERY reason to be sick, to be dead, for we'd only be doing that which comes natural. PRAISE GOD that that's NOT the case, huh? And for that reason, we boys need to be absolutely shamelessly shameless of the Gospel, because we can, for that is what God defines as a man. Real men are those, who by faith, "desire a better coutry, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God IS NOT ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:16).
Since I'm already in Hebrews, how about I pull out a little bit more out of the Book as to some of the adventures of real men, as how God counts 'em:
"For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets--who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated--of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." (11:32-38)
If that doesn't get your blood flowing, you might want to check your pulse... or your heart. If you are not where you ought be with the Lord, nevermind all this nonsense. You're too stuck up on yourself to even care. You're dead.
Perhaps you know that, and perhaps you hate that, in which case I say this. Here's the ultimate sum of masculinity, and femininity:
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were BY NATURE children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:1-5)See, that passage right there is what we celebrate. That's what it means to celebrate the true essence of masculinity and femininity. The Gospel. There's no getting around that. I'll admit all day long that i'm pretty bigoted about that... deal with it. Not Rambo, or Chuck Norris, or Steven Seagal, or Jean-Claude Van Damme, or Rocky, or Leonidas can even TOUCH that! Jesus was the ultimate man before it was popular.
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