Becoming a Mighty Man of God...

What does being a man really mean? Does anybody even really know anymore? When you look around you in your current life what makes a Man stand out as really being a Man today? The world has many different views on what a Man is in this day and age. If you are in the business world a man is a cut throat deal maker that will do whatever it takes to get ahead of the game and get the deal done; by any means necessary. If you watch TV the typical man on most sitcoms is a passive and lazy guy who goes to work at a job he hates, comes home and pops the top of a beer while sitting in front of the TV thinking of ways to get out of helping around the house. He's usually fat or over weight, doesn't help his children do anything or his wife and he has a bunch of friends who are exactly the same way that he drinks beer with on a regular basis. The role models our children have today are celebrities and athletes who entertain them either in movies or on the radio or playing a game making millions of dollars. Most of these people are self absorbed and spoiled trying to out do the other one as to who can party the most or be the "baddest." Now I'm not against pro athletes because most of them make good role models for the most part. Many NFL players have charities and perform public service to kids who look up to them; for that we are grateful and I look up to them as well for that. They use their wealth to better others lives and use their celebrity to influence kids to work hard and never give up. It's a great message and I just want to let you know I'm not knocking these people, it's the ones who get the spotlight and live like hell that concern me and I want to shield my son from them as much as possible or at least teach him how to see past the celebrity to what's truly on the inside of a person, their heart and motives.
With all of this said we now have a good picture of what this world portrays a "Man" to be. The man is usually a really funny guy who is likable and his family all gets along and he has a nice house but what we laugh at and think is funny is really degrading and depleting how boys see what a real man is supposed to be like and it's a facade they use for themselves when they get older. I want to talk about what I have learned from my father, other men in my life and what the bible says about what a Real Man actually is and does.
My father was always there for me as a boy. I can remember him getting home from a long day at work as a mechanic on heavy machinery, a very labor intensive job mind you, and I would ask him to throw the baseball with me. Now I can't remember a single time in my life that my father didn't go change clothes, get his glove and come outside to play with me. He was just always there for me. He coached my baseball teams, he was at all of my games, he was at all of my functions at school and he came home every night from work and didn't stay out drinking with his friends or anything like that. In fact I never saw him drink at all until after I was out of high school, he just never did anything like that around me. Just in passing, I think I had a lot to do with his drinking some after I got out of high school because I was a pretty bad kid at that time so I don't blame him for having a stiff drink every now and again to relax; I'm sure I will probably do the same thing if my son is anything like me when he gets older. My father was always good to my mom. I can't ever remember seeing them argue or fight in front of me or my brother or have any problems when I was growing up or to this day and they have been together for a long time. He was and is a good man and one of my best friends and role models. He is exactly the kind of man I want to be for my son and if I can be half as good as he was to me Christian will grow up to be a great man. I have had other good role models in my life who have showed me what being a man is all about and what it means to be compassionate and show love to others. My church's pastor Keith Craft and all of the Mighty Men of Celebration Covenant Church are perfect examples of what it means to be a man and just being in their presence every weekend, even though I don't know many of them yet, gives me hope and makes me strive for excellence in my own life because that's the kind of man I want to be. The bible is the best place to look for what a real man is supposed to be and I have learned what being a man is all about through reading stories of Great Men of God and how they acted in every situation known to man. Stories of King David are some of my favorite because he was a man after God's own heart and he is the perfect example of a loving, caring, compassionate, strong and brave man that I want to model my life after. I want to go over a few characteristics of what the biblical man looks like to me and my thoughts and feelings of how it relates to my own life.
A man is supposed to be Strong and Brave, full of love and compassion, God fearing and reverent and overall a servant to those around him. Jesus was and is the only perfect man this world has ever seen and all throughout the new testament are stories and examples of how He acted and responded in situations that we should use to mold ourselves to be more like. The love He showed everyone He came in contact with and the servant spirit that moved Him to do the things He did for us and everyone in the world is the love that comes from the Holy Spirit which has been given to us as well. Jesus stood up for what was right and just; He didn't back down from the powerful men of His day because they could kill His body. He stood up to them and exposed them for what they really were and showed the world their hypocrisy. He exposed the leaders of His day for taking something that was Good, the Laws of God given through Moses, and adding their own "laws" and "commandments" of men to the laws of God and calling it tradition which caused people to stumble. They took the 10 commandments and added their own traditions to it causing people to feel that they couldn't live up to the standard that God required which in turn caused them to run away from God instead of bringing them closer to God. The hypocrites of Jesus' day, the teachers of the law and the religious men of that age made the "law" of God seem like it was too hard, too many things that people couldn't do or were supposed to do that it just became overwhelming for the common man which made people run away from God and caused them to stumble. Jesus says that He is the Light of the World and that nobody comes to the father except through Him by believing in Him and asking Him for forgiveness of their sins. All who ask will be forgiven and Jesus will testify for them to the Father in Heaven and they will have eternal life. It's the breaking down of the human Ego and the Pride that is in a man that will allow him to drop to his knees and accept that he isn't in control of his life and ask God to forgive him of his sins. If the man will humble himself in this way and ask God to take control of his life then the humbled man will be exalted higher than he ever could have gotten on his own. God will raise that man up to be a Mighty Warrior for His kingdom and will do many great and mighty things in and through him. This is the kind of man that I want to be and that I want my son to be; a man who can be found on his knees praying and also a man who is strong and fully armed ready to do battle at a moments notice. Armed with the word of God and the sword of the spirit and through Jesus Christ I can do all things and nobody can stand in my way because if God is for me who can be against me?
My Pastor gave a sermon on Power last weekend at CCC and he posed a question to us all that really got me thinking. He asked us who we were following? He said that everyone is following someone or some ideology whether you know it or not. You are either following the world's do whatever feels good ideology that is fully against anything that has to do with the God of Israel and that says that there are no right or wrong answers that everyone gets to decide for themselves what they think. This is what people have adopted to be "politically correct" so as not to offend anybody in this country with their own personal views on Anything. So you can either be of the "World" or you can be of God's kingdom, living for Jesus everyday and furthering the kingdom of God through your thoughts, actions and the way you live your life everyday. You can't serve 2 masters and this isn't something that you can be on both sides about; you are either for God or you are against Him, it's that simple and God takes it very seriously.
Becoming a Mighty Man of God is something that should be a top priority for all men who call themselves followers of Christ. It's something that isn't taught anywhere but in the church and you can only understand the concept by surrounding yourself with strong men of God who spend time in the word and serving others. You can't learn how to be a Mighty Man of God by just going to church on Sunday you have to read the stories of the bible and be around men you can look up to and model your life around the principals you learn. You have to take time to spend time with God and ask Him for the wisdom to become the man that He wants you to be and put His hand of blessing on your life and the lives of your children. Desiring to be a better man, a Mighty Man of God is something that God is looking for and it's a prayer that HE WILL ANSWER because that's the kind of man He can use to do miracles through and change the world with. A man who is passionate about his devotion to God and devoted to raising up followers of Christ everywhere he goes especially in his own home. Yes becoming a Mighty Man of God is something that I pray for everyday and it's something I pray for my son for as well because I know that God is going to do Mighty works through him and I just want to raise him up in the eyes of the Lord, knowing that God's hand of blessing is on his life and that God is going to give me the wisdom I need to teach him everything he needs to know. A man is someone who loves the Lord our God, spends time praying and reading the word and storing it in his heart, cares for and protects his family and serves the people around him with open arms and a heart full of love. That's the kind of man I want to be and the kind of man that Christian deserves to have as his father. I pray that I can rise to the occasion and that you can too...