A Living Sacrifice

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” –Romans 12:1

You want to talk about a Spiritual challenge?! Living your life as a “living sacrifice” is so tough! The biggest reason is because “a living sacrifice can crawl off the altar,” as my pastor likes to say. It’s so true though. How many times do you say, “Ok, I’m going to sell out completely to God now and totally go a 100% in and obey him?” Then, flash forward about 3 or 4 hours and you’ve already made a decision completely based on your own wants and desires regardless how it affects your spiritual life. Yep, been there a million and a half times myself!

The verse above tells us it’s our reasonable service to God to present our bodies as a sacrifice to him. But “how,” you might ask? “How can I present my life as a living sacrifice daily?” It’s pretty simple in theory but so hard to follow through with the action of doing it. Guys, we MUST get over ourselves and expecting God to give us what WE want out of life! We have to get past ourselves, sell out, and go all in for him. We must stop expecting God to be our personal genie and stop thinking that God owes us something or that he’s just here to bless us. On the contrary, we are to be his servant letting him use our life for HIS glory, not ours. This involves every decision we make every day of our life. Just as a diamond seller looks through the lens to see the cut of the diamond so too we must live our lives examining our actions under God’s lens of surrender and obedience to him.

Men, do you want to do great things in this life for God? Do you want to be blessed more wildly than you can ever think or imagine? There is no greater joy than to be used by the God of the universe in service to him and others around us! Trust me! If we can just get past ourselves and what we want out of life and ask, “God, what do you want for my life?” This may mean crawling back up on the altar every hour of the day but make a concerted effort in your walk to do this moment by moment with every decision you make. I’ll tell you right now, if you do this you will become a greater man and more effective in your walk, your ministry, your business, your relationships, and the list goes on and on. God isn’t going to fail you gentleman no matter how many people have let you down before. You’re safe and can rely on him as you drop your pride and allow him to rule your life. Commit today to doing this and watch the stress and burdens of your life slowly fall off your shoulders. God’s got you in his hands and he’s not letting go anytime soon. Too many Christians “think” they’re living a sacrificial life but their actions don’t measure up. I struggle with this myself all the time. Let’s make an effort in God’s strength to life a sacrificial life in the decisions we make and our actions. It’s as simple as saying, “God, here I am, your servant, please use me.” And then walk the walk and make decisions based on that surrender to the Lord and his leading on your life. Always be comparing your actions to what God would want you to do in that current situation.

As many times as it takes, crawl back up on that altar out of surrender to YOUR God.

A Bold Swagger

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” –Isaiah 41:10

“David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.’” –I Samuel 17:32

Christian men can have a pep in their step and swagger in their walk too. This isn’t just reserved for the unsaved man. It must be handled differently however in what a Godly man puts at the center of his life and what his focus is on. The word “swagger” is usually self-centered on a “me-me-me” mentality but God wants us to carry ourselves uprightly and confidently centered on him. The sad thing is many Christians live in a repressed state of mind thinking that God wants us to be "good lil church-choir boys," but actually God designed Christian men to be his bold warriors. He wants us to be his confident yet selfless leaders with a wild streak like John the Baptist or David from the Bible times. The Christian men I read about in the Bible were bold, daring, charming, loving, & confident, yet obedient to God. Remember how little David slayed Goliath? Follow David’s example in your life and the “giants” you encounter daily. God said he’ll go with us and will strengthen us. Why live a passive lifestyle based out of fear? If your personality is naturally to be quiet then that’s completely fine. What’s not fine is if you’re a Christian man called to be more bold by God who can’t get past your fear and timid nature in order to go on to do bigger things in this life for God.

Too many Christian men have been “tamed” by society and appear boring and passive. We have a generation of boys raised by their mothers while their fathers have come up missing. Not only does God want more from you, so too single Godly woman are wishing a bold Godly man like this would appear and sweep them off their feet. You don’t have to be a “bad boy,” no, that’s immature and selfish but you can have the swagger and confidence of this kind of man with a selfless love for your fellow man, surrender to God Almighty, and a bold confidence to take on what life brings, which includes approaching the Christian woman God puts in your path. Don’t you want to be a man of character and integrity with a swagger in your walk? You don’t have to sit on the sideline and settle for second best in your life. You don’t have to be the “bad boy” either. Many times women go for this kind of guy because they are attracted to his confidence, his boldness to pursue them, and the challenge he presents. Keep in mind though, the kind of woman who goes after this kind of “bad boy” man tells you something about her inwardly and her potentially not knowing her own self-worth and value to settle for this kind of behavior from a guy. Sure, these kind of guys can be wild and exciting but so can a Christian man and he needs to be somewhat but with character and integrity to him, not the selfish, immature, sinful ways of the “bad boy.” Christian men, step up to the challenge and be bold, daring, confident, and walking with a swagger centered on love for God, not yourself.

Society needs strong leaders like this today who can be adventurous and walk with boldness, character, and integrity. God doesn't want "good lil boys," he wants real, authentic, daring, confident, Godly men to serve him! The Christian women are begging for a man like this to approach her and prove that he’s a true man but who also finds his value and identity in God. It’s sad to see so many good Christian men fumbling around and lonely Christian woman settling for less than God’s best in their relationships because the Godly men won’t step up to the plate and be more bold and confident in pursuing them. Rise up men! Stop living a life of fear! There’s no greater feeling than conquering your fear to receive God’s blessings in your life. Determine today to start practicing being bold and fearless as you live in God’s will. Stop letting yourself be so attached to what people think of you and the fear-filled “what ifs” of life. “What if” God wants to do bigger things through you but chooses not to until you get your fear handled and confidence from him? The rest of your life is waiting on it. Start today men!

Being bold, confident, and willing to be used by God makes a man feel alive in his life.

But How?!

 

“Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us strip off and throw aside every unnecessary weight and that sin that so easily clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” –Hebrews 12:1

“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said (thought, done, etc.) will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” –Luke 12:2-3

“It is God who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.” –Daniel 2:22

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” -2 Chronicles 16:9a

As men we hear it said often that we need to be men of character and integrity keeping ourselves pure in our attitudes, thoughts, and actions. We hear how we need to stay away from pornography, lust, pre-marital sex, lying, stealing, cheating, gossiping, fighting, partying, etc. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “But HOW do I stay away from that and how do I get back up when I fail miserably in one, several, or all of these areas?”

The great news for us as men is that God is very forgiving! He knows we were formed from mere dust so he knows we’re not going to always be on-point in our obedience and he has made provisions to work through our shortcomings and wrong doings. However, God calls us men to live lives set apart from the world’s view and style of living. You may ask, “But how do I get on track with having the right motives and how do I live a God-honoring lifestyle when I’m pulled in so many directions in this lifetime?” It’s true, it’s very counter-cultural living the lifestyle God is asking us to live to gain victory as Christian men. It’s a huge struggle for me as a man to stay unblemished from the world. I know there are even times that I allow myself to take pleasure in a sinful lifestyle around certain people while God looks down at me in compassionate-disappointment for allowing myself to go there at all. Men, being a true man of integrity and character means living this way 24/7, 365 days a year and when you fall, repent, turn away, and get back on the right path in God’s will. We don’t get a free ticket to sin based on the company we keep in certain settings. This is very hypocritical and gives Christians a bad name. I struggle with this all the time too guys.

So how do we do this? “Where do we start,” you may ask? First off, we start with prayer. Ask God to expose those hidden motives and agendas that are deeply rooted in your heart, keeping you from getting victory over your sin. Secondly, repent! Ask for forgiveness and run away from that sin that keeps tripping you up! Take that beast of a sin and cast him out into the street and expose him for what he is! A thief of your purity, a liar, and pure demonic evil! Thirdly, ask God for wisdom to see when and where your “trip-ups” are coming and ask for strength to not only see them coming, but for strength to walk away from them and to take a new path away from that sin that trips you up. Knowing something negative is coming and being prepared is half the battle! This could mean putting a parental block on certain late night channels, not going on the internet when nobody is around, not sitting next to the kid who helps you cheat on the test, avoiding that guy at work who’s always putting a bug in your ear about how badly your company is treating you as an employee, or setting boundaries with your girlfriend. Fourthly, get in the Word. It’s your strength and shield to defeat these sins. You may be like me when I used to think, “Oh, I can pray but don’t ask me to go too crazy and read, study, and memorize the Bible all the time.” Well, that was just foolish on my part because that is our sword and shield that gives us wisdom to get victory over the sin that takes us away from the things of the Lord. Men, striving to be men of obedience, character, and integrity to fulfill our responsibility to be obedient to God needs to be our number one priority each day! God is looking for men like this with a heart centered on him to do great things through. So stand up and obey so he will see the sacrifice of your heart contrary to the ways of the world and will shine his bright light on your life. He’s waiting and looking for you men. When you fall as I do daily, get back up! Don’t stay down! He’s going to use that shortcoming for his glory in some way, shape, or form but you are called to get back up in his strength so he can rebuild you more firm and deeply rooted in him so you don’t fall so easily the next time. Learn from your mistakes men or you’ll keep repeating them. This is the path to leadership and manhood, one step, stumble, and fall at a time. Don’t give up!

Everybody falls but those that get back up again persevere to greatness.

Passing the Blame

“The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” –Genesis 3:12

Isn’t it so typical that a guy like Adam in the Garden of Eden would blame his wife for something that was clearly his fault as well? I mean, how low do you have to be to put mankind’s downfall and entrance to sin all on the shoulders of the woman God made for his companionship to honor, cherish, respect, and protect? Sure, she messed up, was deceived, and was guilty too but he didn’t show much courage to take responsibility for his own actions and the choice he had made, even if she did persuade him to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Why was he not helping to protect her as he was called by God to be the head of the relationship? Where was he while the serpent was manipulating and deceiving his wife? Will you be the guy that leaves his wife to take the lead and all the blame in your relationship? Please don’t do this man of God!

Men, there is going to come a time in your life that you will get busted for doing something wrong. Will you be the guy who cowardly looks around for someone else to blame or the one making up a half-truthful story to take the negative spotlight off of yourself?  Please don’t be this guy! This guy lacks character and integrity and this has no business being in the life of a true man. This is boyish and cowardly. Keep in mind there are many guys in prison today still pointing the finger at someone else for their actions even after they’ve been caught. They lie to themselves and try to convince everybody else their innocent. This is a messed up way to live, especially believing their own cowardly lies.

Men, you’re going to mess up from time to time. It happens. Apologize and own up to it. Accept the consequences and try to make it right. What’s not ok is when you don’t accept responsibility for your actions and try to put the blame on somebody else. God is not honored or glorified by your trying to avoid the blame. There are so many people in society today that do this and it’s a horrible way to go about their life! This is not noble. This is weak and shameful. This is a good way to give up your “man card” so-to-speak. Be of noble character and please God regardless of the consequences. God will honor this as you do the right thing. Embrace the struggle of doing the right thing as you move one step closer to true manliness and leadership under God Almighty. Do not go through life as a coward. There’s no honor in cowardly behavior! God holds us responsible. Let’s stand tall and embrace the challenge as men of God!

You make your bed. You lie in it.

The Importance of Our Reaction

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” -Romans 12:18 (NIV)

“A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.” –Proverbs 15:1 (NLT)

There is a principle to life called the 90/10 rule. What it basically says is that 10% of what happens to us in life is completely out of our control and that 90% of life is how we react to the 10% that is out of our control. Say for instance you’re on your way out the door to school and your little sister spills milk all over you at the breakfast table and you lose your temper and yell at her and make her cry which causes her to lock herself in her room which ends up making you late for school because she had to be convinced to come out of her room so you could get in the car to leave for school. Then since you were late you get called into the school principal’s office to be informed that you have to attend after-school detention causing you to miss the big game that you were supposed to participate in causing you to lose the championship game for your team. Talk about a bad day huh? See how if you would have just calmly handled the situation at the beginning, you could of avoided the downhill spiral that it caused. This may be an extreme example but this kind of thing happens.

What if this happens on a daily basis where you have the choice to control your reaction to a negative situation and go on with your day in a positive way? How about if we take it a step further and we would cut that sin out that we continue to do now instead of let it take us down a long landslide of sin and consequences for the rest of our life? We have a choice now! The decisions we make right now has consequences on the rest of our life. There are many guys sitting in prison at this very moment that wish they could have reacted better to a situation or that they would of cut a certain sin out of their life which lead to their getting caught and locked up.

Men, learn to chill out and be gentle with pure motives with the people you’re dealing with when something doesn’t go your way. It doesn’t make you manly to get all upset and yell and start punching things. It makes you look like a dumb, ignorant cave man. Be better than this! You ARE better than this! Count to 10, take a step back, take a breath, bite your tongue, and avoid a quick remark back to the person who offended you. Remember, a general rule of thumb is that if it feels good to say in the moment as a quick response back, it probably isn’t the right thing to say and you’ll probably end up regretting it. Don’t be so quick to rush to judgment and LEARN TO LISTEN! Get the facts first. Remaining calm in a troubling situation is a true sign of leadership and people will look to you for leadership in those moments while the people around you race around distraught, falling all over themselves. Remember, nobody wins or listens when you just start yelling out of anger back and forth. Actually, people go into “shut-down” mode. This kind of behavior only gets you into trouble. Remember, even in a court room the cross examination takes place to tell the whole story, not just the one side of the first person who tells their testimony to the jury. Be willing to put yourself in their shoes and try to see their viewpoint of the situation. Show them the respect that you would like from them and apologize if you’ve been offensive. This doesn’t necessarily mean your whole argument or viewpoint is wrong, but if you said something offensive to them or could have handled it better then take the high road and offer an apology of “I’m sorry,” NOT “I apologize.” The words “I’m sorry” just mean more than a generic apology and when you say it, MEAN IT. Maybe you weren’t wrong and you don’t have to apologize for that, but if you didn’t handle the situation with grace and love then you need to make it right out of respect and obedience to God. This is learning to be humble and selfless instead of demanding that you’re right and it’s “your way or the highway.” Learn to step back, take a breath, and wait to respond so you don’t respond out of anger. This applies to your text message conversations and work emails too, guys. Being able to control your reactions to negative situations is a huge step toward leadership in your daily life.

React right. The rest of your day and relationships depend on it.

What Are We Focused On?

“Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.” – Matthew 14:25-33

Peter had a choice when he decided to follow Jesus out of the boat and onto the water. He could look to Christ and do an extraordinary act of walking on the water as he fixed his eyes on the One he walked towards who kept him from sinking or he could drown by focusing on the deep sea around him. Knowing Christ approves of you and that you are looking to him for strength gives you courage to take on the things you didn’t know you could accomplish. You think if somebody had told Peter at a young age that one day he would walk on water that he would have believed them? I’m going to guess, probably not. But the great thing is when we look to Christ, he can use us to do monumental tasks.

Now look and see what happened to poor Peter though. As soon as he started focusing on his current circumstance instead of Christ, he began to sink. Of course when he realized that he had taken his eyes of his Protector he cried out for mercy and Jesus caught him. How often do we as Christian men lose sight of what we should be doing in our walk with God? Daily we must choose to look to Christ to sustain us as we put our hope, faith, and trust in him to keep us from sinking into the abyss of our life’s challenging circumstances. It’s a daily choice we must consciously choose to seek Christ’s power and strength in our life to accomplish big things that are far too complex for our ability alone. Men, let this story inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and do bigger things in this life! Don’t get comfortable with just existing. Satan has so many of us Christians living in a comfort zone and what God really wants is for us to stretch out to do more with our lives. After all, God isn’t all that concerned about our comfort and we should never feel too comfortable living in this world of evil. We are to be missionaries in this foreign land preparing the way for others to know Christ as we long for our home in Heaven. This world is not our home! We are ambassadors for a greater calling and purpose, men. Don't fall into this false sense of comfort and walk blindly through life. God wants more from us as his children and leaders. We have a huge responsibility to lead others as men of God and live a faith-filled, God-centered walk each day. What a challenge! It's possible though if we keep looking to Christ!

Men, look at this passage and notice that Christ said at the beginning, “Take Courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The reason we can accomplish extraordinary feats in our lives is because we focus all of our attention on Christ who will use us to accomplish things we never thought possible in this lifetime. You think the courageous men of the Bible or the men you hear about today that go on to do huge things for our Lord ever thought it was possible to accomplish such great tasks? No, but they put their faith in the Lord and he lead them though life to complete huge tasks. He uses imperfect, small men who have extraordinary faith in him. We need to do our part men to accomplish what God has put before us today as we put your complete faith in Christ. Then, we can watch what he can accomplish through our faith-filled existence! Why doubt, men? God wants to use us to accomplish his mission to reach others with his love and give our life purpose and meaning. Every day we can look at the deep sea around us or we can fix our eyes on Christ to lead us across our circumstances to what he wants for us as our faith grows in him, not ourselves, and to keep us from going through the motions of being a comfortable Christian. Are you too comfortable in this life, men? Has life gotten stale because you’re too concerned with yourself and what you want out of life? God is more concerned with stretching us and helping us grow. It is when we’re being stretched that we grow the most and experience blessings we never thought possible. Every obstacle and challenge in life is an opportunity to increase our faith and trust in him as we grow to new heights in our relationship with God Almighty.

If you’re waiting to have all the answers and waiting before you’re “perfect” to step out in faith, then you will never get anywhere. Faith is believing even when you can’t see.

Soar Above the Storm by Looking to the Source

 “(A storm broke out while the disciples were in the boat and the men feared so they woke up Jesus who was sleeping) He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’  They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” -Mark 4:39-41

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:30-31

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?” –Matthew 6:25-31

“Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it (the demon) out?’ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:19-21

Gentlemen, how strong is your faith? The Bible says in Matthew 17 as Jesus was talking to his disciples about why they couldn’t get the task at hand done, he told them in so many words, “Men, your faith is too small!” What if we took Jesus’ words at face value and actually believed what he said he will do on our behalf if we will activate our faith in the area of the answers we seek? Why do we limit our faith of God’s all consuming power? Why do we box ourselves in instead of realize how big the God we serve really is?

The passage in Matthew 6 tells us that we don’t have to worry about our life because worrying is useless. God takes care of his children. No, this doesn’t mean we as Christians are exempt from bad things happening to us but it does mean that God holds us tightly in his hands and will work out his will in our lives. Nothing happens to us that God doesn’t allow or control. He has a good plan even in the bad things that happen to us when we don’t understand why it is happening. He can still use it for good! I once heard the saying that said, “Worry is temporary atheism.” That may be a little intense but it does make you stop and think about how strong our faith and trust in God is when we encounter life’s struggles.

When life’s storms rage and bad things arise in your life, you have a choice to focus on the storm’s waves and wind like the disciples did in the passage in Mark 4 or look to the Source who controls the storm. You can limit your faith by focusing on the bad of the present challenge or you can choose to rise above like an eagle and trust God to work through it according to his will. Guys, just look to God and ask him what he wants you to learn while you go through the current challenge so you don’t have to repeat the same lesson again later on in life. Every tough challenge is a learning experience. Whatever you do though, choose to activate your faith completely on God and not the problem. Put all your hope in the Lord and watch him turn a hairy situation into something great. Simply trust and look to him to work it out.

When the winds and rain of life arise, choose to soar above the storm like the eagle by looking to the One who controls it all.