Christian Men are living a life that meanders back and forth between confidence and terror. We sporadically cross the center line where faith lives and we find peace with our journey if only for a short while. Every man I have talked to about faith just wants some type of life consistency so the rest of the junk they have to manage is tolerable. The end result is the compartmentalization of the life. Compartmentalization is a $20 word that means we don’t want our peas touching our carrots.
The number one question I hear is: “I just don’t know if I’m doing what God has planned for me. How do I know if what I’m doing is for God or for myself?” There are two answers to life for men:
- God created you to be uniquely… you. Honor God in the shoes you wear where you stand every day and you will fulfill His plan for you. Be where you are and celebrate. God created you to love Him… not to get a great job. So Love him at your Job and you’re done. Simplified.
- You will never experience the full joy of God until you give something away every day. Whether it is money, love, hope, help, friendship, life. When you give, you live.
We all want to know the answer to the challenges we face everyday, but there is no easy way out. Following the teaching of Christ is tough and it requires tenacity and strength that you just can’t produce every single day without help from your brothers. It confounds us that we can have one area of our life totally figured out while the rest falls off the cliff… again.
If you are like most guys… we understand where our faith should be, but we just can’t quite make the leap to mix it through the rest of our life. As one guy asked me, “How can I be a Christian when I can’t even keep my family together?” The answer is not being a Christian over here and being a family man over there. The answer is mixing faith into the family. It seems simple, but its difficult for men to join those areas.
I want to challenge you to consider the area of your life that is kicking your tail. The one place you can’t seem to get a grip on. Forget the other places and things you struggle with… you only want to look at that one thing that is holding you down. Now pray about it. Ask God to help you understand that challenge and find a way to introduce your faith into your adversity. There is no magic bullet to get you over the hump, but there is guaranteed victory when you focus all of your energy to bring God into that specific part of your life that is void without Him.
Every man has a compartment that they hold more tightly than others. What is yours? Where is your challenge? Work, church, family, friends, wife, children, addiction? Take your faith (your God compartment) and mix it with your challenge. It will not only transform your life, but will unlock the rest of your soul for complete infatuation with God Almighty. A man on fire is unstoppable and drips with courage.
“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spine of others are stiffened.”
-Billy Graham
In the coming months, look for my new book called: The GodBox. We’ll identify some popular Boxes that we keep and offer some ideas of pouring our faith out of the GodBox into our challenge so we can live closer and closer to the center line.
Peace,
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