WANTED: Heads Up.
Did you realize that there are thousands of organizations looking for us? Millions of dollars are being spent trying to figure out where in the world we are. Years of research has been conducted in the attempt to pick apart our brain to determine why we guys do what we do.
I’m going to save you a lot of headaches and energy and condense our lives down to one simple pursuit. In everything you do, in all that you are, and the total energy of your life is centered on this one basic fact:
Every one of us… wants to be wanted.
Could it really be that simple? Are we that easy to figure out? Simply put… yes. I’m not asking you to spend hours recounting the days of your life and reliving old scenarios, but rest assured… this is our fundamental pursuit.
As children, we clamor around searching and begging for attention. We want assurance that someone wants us. As teenagers, we spend hours trying to figure out who wants us and how we belong to certain groups of peers. As young adults, we search for tasks that make us desirable to employ and we form groups to belong to or be a part of. We marry or date the ladies, especially the ones that show signs of wanting us. We have children… and find fulfillment in the fact that someone actually wants us for who we are. And at some point in our lives, some of us find God. And we discover that He wants us terribly.
I don’t have any facts or figures to support a broad sweeping claim that a certain number of us find this to be true. The only number I’m concerned about is “1″ – you. Glance back in your history and note the special times. At the heart of those times, you will discover that you were wanted and you knew it. In that same glance, note the terrible times. At the heart of those, you will find emptiness and loneliness.
Guys… we suck at introspective thinking. We are thick headed when it comes to figuring out why we are the way we are. You aren’t alone in this endeavor. We are excellent at hiding who we are in order to accomplish the things of this world. However, at some point, an awakening occurs and you figure out that true joy comes when you realize that you are needed.
Why do you cling to your career so tightly? Could it be that this is a place where you feel the most wanted?
Faith isn’t something that requires rock climbing gear and shovels. If you’ve fought through your life of faith, you’ve been headed in the wrong direction. God wants you for who you are. You don’t have to change your entire wiring to convert over to a life that pursues God.
Let’s take a few laps around the field and let me tell you about a few things that will change your life. I want you to hear that you are wanted more than you realize. I want you to hear that there are billions more people than you that want to be wanted… so you’ve got to be on both sides on this one.
I want you to realize that God needs men like you and me to stand up. I don’t care if your 10, 23, 34, 46, 54, 65, 71, or 82… you need to be standing with resolve.
I want you to know that faith isn’t complicated.
I want you to know that being a dad is the most important thing in your life… right now!
I want you to know that being a husband requires strength and tenacity and leadership.
I want you to know that being a friend is more than “how’s the weather” and “what’s up”.
I want you to know that you are not alone in this journey.
I want you to know that everything around you is just stuff and none of it will bring you contentment.
I want you to know that each day is a new day and yesterday is gone… forget about it.
I want you to know that you are wanted. If no one else does… then know that I need you.
Wake up guys. It’s time to get a grip on things around here. Grab your gear… it’s time to get busy. I’ve got faith in you… and I’m counting on your help.
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Welcome, and thanks for dragging yourself over to Live|Bold! My name is Greg Arnold and I am pumped to see you here. This interactive online community is here to point every man toward the cross. Whether you have been a follower of Christ for ages, or you are just stumbling into this strange new world of faith, we have something of value to offer you. This online e-zine is a cross between a blog, a social network, a resource center, and a pulpit. My hope is to inspire you to live your faith on the outside and be a real man for God. We need you in the fight. 
Comments
Greg is talking about basic need of all humans but, especially men. I think that this basic need of belonging and love is so important that a person can not get to the next step unless that basic need is met. An individual can not act upon the next growth needs unless the lower growth need needs are met. I know that is why when you hear someone’s Faith story that almost always sound the same. There is a low period in their life when they don’t feel anyone else cares about them and they seek love and connection anyway they can. Usually there is a providential relationship that turns the person to God. Look back, are there people you feel God providentially brought into your life at critical times? Who? How did God use them?
I hear stories all the time about kids coming to MYF and it becomes important so much to them that their lives change. The next thing you know is that their parents are coming to church to see what’s it all about. That MYF leader has a providential relationship with this young person and it changes the whole family. I remember that we sang “It only takes a spark to get a fire going. That providential relationship is the spark.
If you are like most people you can’t tell your life story without referencing people who played significant roles along the way. The same is true of your faith story. I remember that I brought my granddaughter to Sunday school when my wife was out of town. She asked me if I would do that. It would have been easy to just stay home that day. My wife told me to take Taylor and drop her off and go to Walmart for an hour or so. She was part of this providential relationship. But the person that I feel made the difference was Don Hinton. I sat on the front of his Sunday school class he was talking about a relationship with God. How God wanted a relationship with me. He handed me a FCA bible and told me that I could keep it. That was the providential relationship that I needed to start doing all the thing that my conscience was telling me to do for months. The kind of things like reading that bible, private disciplines are very important to a spiritual growth. Since strong human relationships are held together through discipline and self-control, we should not be too surprised to discover that our relationship with God requires the element of discipline as well. The notion of a discipline being essential to an authentic, heart felt relationship might seem strange. After all, discipline is about routine. A relationship is fluid. But if you think about it, every healthy relationship is held together partly by disciplined actions and routines. Our relationship with God shares a similar dynamic. Abandoning these practices leaves God on the sideline of our lives. God is calling out Put me in Coach.
Maslow studied the basic needs of humans and formulated a hierarchical model. Maslow put the need for love and belonging as a very low and basic need. If motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for men to understand which needs are the more important for individual in their basic relationships. In this regard, Maslow developed this model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment are pursued. In this hierarchical model, when a need is mostly satisfied it no longer motivates and the next higher need takes its place. As a person tries to LiveBold he must meet these basic needs.
Steve,
what a terrific witness…… thanks for your willingness to get in the game and your discipline to play your heart out!! I love and appreciate you more than you will ever know!!
don h
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