Living In The Now

Row by row.  Row by row.  That was me, Thursday afternoon, lost in thought while mowing my lawn.  I like to keep the rows straight as I push the mower up one end of my yard and back the other.  It looks better and of course it’s quicker.

As I ended one row and did my end-of-row pivot to turn around, I saw someone approaching me from the side.  I looked up and saw my daughter, with a big, cheesy grin on her face.  She kept trying to shout something over the sound of the mower and I kept ignoring her.  She just laughed.  I knew what she wanted, and she knew that I knew it. She just turned 16 this week.  I saw my wife come out a few seconds behind her with a camera and I turned off the mower.

“Dad, can I have the car keys?”  Gulp!  A few minutes later, I watched her for the first time ever, drive away all by her self, ever so cautiously down our street and out of sight…  Wow! And that’s how a new era began at my house on Thursday.  We had trained for this moment for a while with plenty of Saturday afternoon drives.  It wasn’t a surprise, but I can’t deny that it’s going to take some getting used to.  For the last 16 years, she’s relied on me to take her everywhere.  Not anymore.

As she drove off with her new found freedom, I couldn’t help thinking about a starkly different conversation I had that morning about a friend of mine facing the looming reality of being forced to give up their own license due to the natural inability to drive that comes with age.  After decades of navigating the roads with ease, coming and going as they pleased… poof! Gone.  What a contrast in realities between that and what my daughter is experiencing right now.  It got me thinking about how precious our time is on this earth and how unyielding it marches on.

“For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”  Ecclesiastes 9:12

Paul offers us encouragement. Although time marches on and often catches us off guard in its evil net, those who will, can cash in on the goodness of God’s mission at whatever stage of life they are in.

           

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” Ephesians 5:15-16

That passage has always given me pause.  On the one hand a blessing, that no matter where I’m at in terms of my past, I can move forward in God’s grace from that point forward.  On the other hand, a dire warning that the days are evil and I’m going to be daily under attack going forward whether or not I redeem the time.  Sobering thought.

My natural thoughts often take for granted that I will be able to work, do, think… just as I always have for the foreseeable future.  Sure, there is the occasional reminder by way of a sore knee, or bad back that life marches on.  But do I really take God’s Word seriously in redeeming the time every evil day I live? 

My inclination is to make sure my heart, mind and body are in the game – now!  Certainly Paul is saying to do so.  Let me encourage you to begin by investing the Word of Life into another person.  It’s a great place to start that will begin an outpouring of the characteristics of God in your life as you grow in your ability to share Truth with others.  If you’re not investing God’s Word in another person, are you truly walking circumspectly like the verse in Ephesians 5 says?  I think an honest, circumspect evaluation of mankind in light of the Word of God would say no.  How could a believer passively go through life knowing the end state of mankind without a pattern of warning others of hell and preaching the good news of the gospel?  Of all things after all, Jesus is “Whom we preach…” Col. 1:28.

I hope that most of you are already engaged in the mission.  For me, the battle is often embracing the place I am at in my life right now, with the Biblical understanding that the time is short.

“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

Proverbs 27:1

Are you fully engaged in God’s Word in a way that lets it work through your heart and mind throughout the day?  Are you thankful for where God has you right now?  Are you self-aware of the roles God presently has for you as a minister, husband, father, son, worker, student…?  I am reminded, thinking about that older friend about to lose his license, that as time goes, so does every man’s ability to engage in those roles that would be easy to take for granted right now.  Once my friend loses his license, he’ll still be able to apply Ephesians 5:15-16 just like he can right now.  But he’ll enter a new stage, with new roles to engage in.  Are you living in the now with God’s Word in mind?  If not, start today.

A Line in the Sand

A line in the sand is an expression that captures a definitive point where one chooses to not go beyond a fixed boundary or one chooses to proceed beyond a certain point regardless of what that decision brings.

One of the greatest weapons in Satan’s arsenal happens to attack one of the greatest weaknesses of a man. I’ve met few men (including myself) that have not acknowledged the war of sexual temptation that is waged day in and day out. It is a war of wars, it rarely takes a day off, it pursues us like a heat-seeking missile, and it is merciless when an opportunity presents itself.

After I trusted Christ as my Savior and Lord, I was amazed at how quickly my speech changed, how quickly my friends changed, and how quickly the interest to drink a 12-pack on a Friday night vanished. But one very noticeable desire remained – the desire for a woman. The war was on and even though I’m married to a wonderful bride that has not deterred my adversary one bit unfortunately. He still brings it any way he can, always looking for new angles to try and take me down. He will not stop.

God in his grace and marvelous wisdom brought me to a very key place in the war. It was a place that I believe every man MUST arrive at or he will go down extremely hard. It is the place where a man very definitively draws a line in the sand. It’s a moment where a man accepts the reality that the war will always be there therefore, there is not a moment where he arrives and says, “I’ve beat it. It’s over. I can get on with life” That is insane and is accompanied by failure. Well intentioned yes but failure lurks right around the corner.

The line in the sand moment I’m getting at here is when a man does what Daniel did in Babylon as a teenager when he was surrounded by gross paganism and ungodliness:

        Dan 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Daniel had a made-up mind that defilement was not an option for him. Paganism was not going away, ungodliness was not going away but neither was Daniel’s conviction. He had drawn a line in the sand. The late Dr. Adrian Rogers used to say, “One big decision takes care of a lot of little decisions.” A man who fails to purpose in heart that he will not defile himself, will defile himself.

There are two promises I can make regarding your tomorrow, the sun will rise and you will be sexually tempted as a man and that will be true six weeks from now as well. What it comes down to is have you drawn a line in the sand that says I WILL NOT DEFILE MYSELF? Have you determined, “It doesn’t matter what the enemy throws at me, I will not cross that line even if it kills me.”

A man who fails to do this is hopeless in his hotel room on a business trip. A man who fails to do this is a sitting duck while surfing the internet while his wife is visiting her parents for the weekend. A man who fails to do this will entertain flirtatious attention that advances to adultery.

The mind must be made up before the moment of attack arrives and when a man has drawn a line, it doesn’t not matter what/who comes his way, the response is premeditated.

Men will read this and agree but wonder how does a man draw a line like that and stick to it? The answer is fairly simple but the problem is application. Men will read the answer given and blow it off before finishing the answer but here it is nonetheless:

Psa 119:9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

A man must feed on the Word of God. It is that simple. Listen, bondage only needs one condition to exist: REJECTION AND DISOBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD!

Jesus said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So if a man is enslaved to any device of Satan, it has to be a result of not taking heed to God’s Word, hiding it in his heart which makes him free.

I’m not saying it’s easy but when that line is drawn and reinforced daily, it gets easier.

Have you drawn the line?

God's Specific Call to Strength

Huffing and puffing up and down the hills around my neighborhood, I found it challenging to keep my heart rate up tonight.  I was using one of those fancy heart rate monitors and tonight my plan was a ride in the somewhat cooler evening air. 

As I was riding and struggling to get the most out of my time in the saddle, a verse came to me that I often think of during a workout -“For bodily exercise profiteth little…” I Tim 4:8a.  Paul refers to physical exercise to teach us by comparison that while working out is good, there is something even more profitable -- godliness.  I don’t want you to miss the greater truth there, but tonight I honed in on the first part of the verse and encouraged myself that there was at least some profit to what I was doing while I dodged cars and watched for potholes in the dark.

Somewhere around mile three I began thinking about the discipline required to really make an exercise routine work.  If I am to really become a strong cyclist, or strong runner, or strong ______ (insert your sport of choice) I have to do it on a regular basis, and from time to time stretch myself.  I started thinking about how similar my spiritual life is.  In the spirit of my workout, when I got home I set aside what I was planning on writing and did a short word study…

Did you know in the New Testament, we are told to "be strong" only three times?

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. I Cor. 16:13

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Eph 6:10

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. II Tim. 2:1

That blew me away!  Of all of the directives and important plans our Father has for us in the New Testament, only 3 things warranted a command to be strong in them.  What exactly does it mean to be strong in: faith, power of the Lord, grace in Jesus?  Let me encourage you to study these passages out on your own, but to help you get started here are some tips:

Be Strong in Faith – I Cor 16:13

The Corinthians had a crisis of faith when they stopped adhering to the word of God and ended up in a carnal way.  Paul wrote I Corinthians in order to correct their actions according to what the word of God said.  Faith, essentially is knowing what God said, and realigning your life to do what God said.  In a word faith is obedience (to his word).  For a whole list of examples see Hebrews chapter 11.  Are you strong in your obedience to his word?  Keep in mind willful ignorance of what God says is not an excuse.

Be Strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might – Eph 6:10

Sounds good.  What does it mean?  A key to understanding this passage is to follow through with the passage and look at the context of the last half of chapter 6.  Essentially, Paul is instructing the church in the warfare that is Christianity.  Don’t fool yourself, there is a war going on for your consecration and for the souls of men.  Failure to see this will lead to weakness in this area and certain injury on the battlefield.  To be strong in the Lord and suited for battle requires arming yourself with truth, righteousness, preparation of the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God and watchful prayer.  Whoa!  That’s a heavy list.  I guess warring in the name of Jesus involves more than just snatching a verse a day from the clutches of my morning routine.  Are you strong in the Lord and ready for the battle?  Know that the enemy certainly is.

Be Strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus – II Tim 2:1

Unfortunately, many of us jump past this verse when reading chapter 2 in anticipation of the famous discipleship verse found in verse 2 where Paul commands us to invest in faithful men who will also invest in faithful men.  Did you ever notice that verse two of II Tim. 2 starts with the word “And?”   Paul is continuing his thought from verse 1 where he tells Tim to “be strong in grace.”  What does that mean?  Good manners, elegance of movement, sophistication?  I think you’ll find if you study the word out that there are spiritual elements to all of those things relating to grace, but at the core I think you’ll find something more.  You see the discipleship, taking place in verse 2, has to come from something substantive in your own life.  What is that substance?  It’s you living verse 1.  In other words you have to be strong in grace (v.1) before you have anything to really invest in anyone else (v.2).  Without living verse 1, you will be investing a very limited amount of goodness into others, if anything good at all.  So what does being strong in grace look like?

Here’s a clue -- Chapter 1 drips of the condescending act of Jesus to save mankind.  Chapter 2 then continues with “thou therefore” (pointing back to the act of Jesus) “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  Here’s another clue, Paul, in the book of Ephesians tells us that “unto everyone of us is given [the gift of] grace” in his famous list of spiritual gifts.  Grace, simply put, is the act of condescension unto others for their eternal benefit.  It’s you arresting the will of the flesh and maybe even forsaking what is rightfully yours (condescending) in order to preach the good news of the gospel to someone in need.  What’s that, your gift isn’t evangelism?  No problem.  If you’re saved, you’ve got the gift of grace (Eph 4:7). Be strong in it.

How do I get strong in these areas?  Daily Exercise. Your faith stance strengthens with each obedient step you take as you witness God honoring his promises and you develop a track record of success with God.  Your power in the Lord surges as you consistently arm yourself and become skilled with the weaponry and armor that God provides.  And you become stronger and stronger in grace every time you say no to the flesh and yes to opening your mouth with the good news of the lowly Jesus.

Know this – the enemy would love to see you wallow in weak faith, weak power and weak grace.  I believe that there must be something particularly special about those three areas to be singled out as they are. This week I’m making sure these three workouts are part of my regiment.  God forbid I am weak in any of them!

Bored

Over the years, I’ve grown to recognize the look and the speech of the believer who has grown bored with God and His Word. I recall a man saying to me once after reading Psalm 119, “It was boring. He just kept repeating himself over and over again.” I was stunned and speechless to say the least. How does one generate that type of response after reading PSALM 119?

The reality is that many believers have been deceived into believing that the acquisition of Bible knowledge means they have discovered all there is to discover and know about God. How foolish and sad. I love the Word of God but the Word of God cannot contain ALL of God. This is not to say the Bible is lacking or incomplete as that would be a lie. The issue is simply this: God is too large to be totally contained in a book.

As the Holy Spirit led me to Nehemiah 9:6 recently, I instantly recognized that this was an encounter that demanded intense meditation and prayer for days on what I read and I’m still soaking in it as I type this blog. Let’s consider it:

Nehemiah 9:6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

From time to time, my children are eager to remind me of what they’ll say or do to Satan if he dare bother them. It’s obvious to me that in their minds he’s nothing more than a lightweight character like one the cartoon characters they’re familiar with. When it comes to Satan, believers tend to go to one of two extremes. Either we fail to give him enough credit or too much. The reality is one-on-one we’re no match for Satan but he is no match for God either because God is the LORD alone. He is self-existent while Satan is a created being and so are all other “so-called” gods. How can the one created overpower its creator? This gave me a refreshed perspective of the omnipotence of God. He is more powerful than my imagination can comprehend. What are my problems in His sight? NOTHING! His work in creation reinforces His total rule in and over all things visible and invisible to us. The fact that our minds are unable to fully comprehend or grasp God ought to fuel the pursuit of Him not lead us to boredom.

At the end of this verse, it says, “and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” The word worshippeth appears in the present tense here. I guess if anyone would be justified in growing board with God it would have to be the angelic host who have been worshipping God for thousands of years but as I type this, they are still worshipping Him and will continue to do so with us throughout eternity. What do you suppose this teaches about God? He is AWESOME, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, INEXHAUSTIBLE, & INCREDIBLE and to be bored of Him is a signal of something deeply deficient in us.

The Scripture declares He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He is the reward! But to the carnal mind, that seems to be a futile and wasted pursuit.

To discover more of Him moves us unlike any pleasure or experience we can fathom. If we would come after Him, He promises not to disappoint. Any man who believes he’s mastered God is a carnal fool and what follows spiritual boredom plays out like a spiritual horror film. Boredom with God is a very tantalizing invitation to Satan and he RSVP’s with rapid response because any man who has grown bored with God will eventually put down the Word of God and it’s downhill from there.

Have you grown bored with God? If the Holy Spirit has just judged you guilty, seek Him now for grace to repent and come after Him. He wants to show you so much more!

Leaving the Old You Behind

Today I came across a familiar passage in my reading.  I shutter to think how often I skim over “familiar” passages and take them for granted.  Thankfully the Holy Spirit prompted me to meditate on this one:

1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;

                        Genesis 12:1-4a

This is the famous call to Abram who would become the father of Israel and eventually, Abraham, the friend of God.  What an amazing journey!  I often go to the life of Abraham for inspiration in my own journey as a father, husband and man of God.  Abraham experienced great struggle, loss, failure, sacrifice and incredible victory.  All of which speak volumes about how everyman is able to do the same simply by trusting God.  His incredible account is found in Genesis chapters 12 – 25.

As I read over how it all started in Abram’s life it occurred to me what God was asking of Abram.  This father of Israel, and eventual friend of God started out just like you and I – just like everyman.  But before the great promise of blessing in vv. 2-3, God asks Abram to completely shed his identity.  Look at what God instructs him to do in verse 1:

#1 – “Get thee out of thy country.”

What’s in a country?  Here in the U.S., citizens proudly wave their banner year around for the old red, white and blue.  It happens in other countries too.  It’s natural and whether by favoring your country’s soldiers on the battlefield, or rooting every four years for your favorite national athlete in the Olympics, it’s just built in to a person – the country they come from.  It is predictable and at some level, safe, even for those in repressive regimes.  How important of a connection is a person’s country to their identity?  Apparently deeply important, as it is the first layer that God commands Abram to shed.  I wondered how willing we as men would be to completely shed our national identity to follow God?  Does my patriotism and reverence for the Constitution and Founding Fathers compare to my devotion to the cross of Christ?  God forbid, but I think sometimes it is much easier to embrace the nature of our heritage as countrymen then be willing to shed it if necessary for the cause of Christ.  Would I be willing to leave it behind to follow God to another part of the world?  What if it required giving up that part of my identity permanently?

#2 – Get thee out “from thy kindred.”

If a person’s country is important to their identity, then a person’s kindred, is even more intricately woven into the fabric of a person.  Many people associate kindred with family, but it means something slightly broader than that.  It contains the root word, “kind,” and essentially encompasses those things or people that are similar.  God was asking Abram to not only leave his national identity, but also leave behind everything similar in kind to those things and people who were kindred in his old spirit, old attitudes, old beliefs, old values, old feelings…  As God continues to peel the layers away from the old man, Abram, the challenge becomes more intense.  As you obey the Lord, have you noticed the people and things you surround yourself with changing?  Have you left behind that which was kindred to the old, pre-Christ you?

#3 – Get thee out “from thy father’s house.”

Finally, in this short, compact list we see God asking Abram to shed the most intimate layer of identity, his family.  This probably doesn’t need a lot of elaboration, but to say that it involves the foundational layer of a person is probably not a stretch.  I can think of no other connection so close as a person’s family.  God designed it this way for our good that we might be protected and provided for.  And that relationship you have with your mom, dad, aunt, grandparent, child, brother, sister, nephew, niece… is a powerful bond, sealed by shared experiences and sealed by the shared interest of preserving the all important family (and thereby yourself) that naturally exists when you share the same name.  I know that I would do anything for my family.  But am I as a man willing to shed my old  foundational identity for God’s?  As you read Abram’s story, you’ll find that he had to come face to face with that very question.

Before I moved on in my reading of Genesis 12, I had to ask myself whether or not I’ve turned over each part of my identity to God.  In Luke 14:26 Jesus lays out what it means to be a true follower of his by talking about what it means to turn over your identity,

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Fortunately the love that God gives you is unending so that there is exceeding more than enough to spread around between your country, kindred and family.  All the same, don’t diminish the fact that Jesus, here in the gospel of Luke, illustrates the nature of what your devotion to anything else in this world must be like compared to your devotion to the Lord.  Oh, that we as men might be that type of Disciple!  The road to this sort of life starts one way.  Abram believed and obeyed.  He may not have understood at that early moment of his journey the depth of what God was asking of him, but what he did understand he moved on:   

 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;

                        Genesis 12:4a

This week I want to encourage you to listen to the Word of the Lord to identify ways you might depart as the Lord speaks to you.   This week, be sensitive to what God would have you shed literally and comparatively so that Jesus might be magnified in you.

To deny the LORD

I've been studying Jude in our bible study when I came across this verse;

 Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our god into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now there is plenty of stuff going on in this verse and we could probably spend weeks alone in this verse.  But what really stood out to me was "denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."  As a godly man I instantly would say "Well I would never!!"  I could never deny my God and my Saviour, you might be saying that same thing right now.

Matt 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in      heaven
So we all know better then that, and in our relationship with God we don't deny him we accept, love, and proclaim his name to the world.  What should we deny?

Matt 16:24  Then said Jesus uto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
So we are to deny ourselves.  We are to deny the flesh.  We are to put away everything that this earthly body has an urge to do, everything this earthly body thinks is right we should deny.  Because the flesh is sin and to be IN the Lord is holy.  
So of course we wouldn't deny God that means eternal seperation from him, we learned that in Matt 10:33.
  
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 
There it is again deny yourself, but there is something else in this one.  Take up his cross DAILY.  
I was at a christian function a week or so ago and I heard one of those "that's what she said jokes".  It came out of a strong christian mans mouth.  I don't find them funny.  I don't appreciate them.  And I find them quite degrading to women and I'm sure God doesn't like the sexual connotations that it implies about a child of his.  So that got me thinking, how does something like that get into the vocabulary of a man of God, how does something as vile and degrading as that creep in unaware and become a part of our daily lives.  

2 Peter 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.  

DENYING THE LORD, that's how that slips into our world that's how it slowly creeps in and after a while it seems to be ok.  We already know we won't deny God, but how about your daily walk your daily cross bearing walk where are you denying Christ?  Everytime you sin, Everytime you let something into your life that you know you shouldn't you Deny Christ and take on that sin acceptingly and knowingly.  You watch that dirty movie, you are denying God and letting sin in your life.  You listen to vulger music, you deny Christ and let sin in.  You do, look, participate, listen, read and willfully sin against God's will, You DENY him.  And as you deny him in the small things you will eventually become numb to those and allow more and more into your life.  Until someday it's part of your life and it flows from your mouth and it flows through your mind and it's ok.  It's just ok, part of life and you have no conviction about the sin, the denial of God that you now participate in.   

So to wrap it up I earge you to get that conviction and when sin (denial) creeps up in your life you will have the knowledge of God and the eyes of Jesus to know and recognize it.  HOW?  Well by being IN the Lord thy GOD.  By being IN the word everyday, by being close to GOD by haveing an intimate relationship with him.  If your not taking some quiet time and drawing near to GOD praying reading his word then you have no defenses Ephesians 6:10-18.   
 

Get Up Man!

           Failure is a scary place for a man. Men love to win and to a man, most often losing is representative of one thing: FAILURE. After all, it has been said that, “Winning is not everything, it’s the only thing.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard men quote those words uttered by Vince Lombardi many years ago. I remember as a freshman in high school watching seniors on the varsity basketball team sob in the locker room after a tough loss in the state tournament. On campus, they had a bigger than life persona and seemed somewhat immortal to me as a freshman. They were popular, very talented, and even had their names in the newspaper. But in the locker room that night, they felt like losers as they failed to win it all.

                Failure can be defined as something that falls short of what is required or expected. Students of Scripture immediately hear bells ringing when considering that definition.  Romans 3:23 declares, “For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Tucked away in this gem of a passage we encounter a very necessary reality: EVERYBODY FAILS (Including men). Before we can ever learn how to properly manage failure we must embrace this reality. Failure to do so only intensifies failure.

                There’s a belief held by many pastors that it is too risky to expose their failures to people. Now, I do believe a pastor or Christian leader should maintain a right testimony (1 Timothy 3) however, if they are human, then failure is as much a part of their journey as it is with those they are privileged to lead. As a matter of fact, the great Apostle Paul admitted the following to billions:

             Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

I have a suspicion that the Apostle Paul missed the memo advising pastors not to admit their failures.

                When all is said and done, I do not want to fail. I want to thrive and hit God’s standard each and every time. But Romans 7:19 and 1 Timothy 1:15 speak to my reality. In the seventeen years that I have walked with Jesus Christ, I have had to accept that not only is failure a part of the journey, it is NECESSARY. Though I hate to fail, one of the best things failure does for me is ground me.  Failure brings me face to face with my insufficiency and total inability to meet God’s standard in my flesh. I need this reality.

                Another blessing in failure is that it serves as a safeguard in ministry. Our brightest attributes are usually exposed in ministry. This is especially true for those who serve in a more public capacity. Public gift sets tend to attract compliments, respect, and immediate acceptance. If not careful, one can get inflated. Failure comes along and reinforces a Romans 7:19 and 1 Timothy 1:15 reality! As much as I hate to taste failure, there have been times where I’ve found myself caught up in my own press to only fall very hard days later and be brought back to reality. So I’m thankful for how the Lord uses failure.

                In conclusion, in the journey to becoming the man God would have you to be, failing is as much of the process as succeeding. As a matter of fact, it is through failure that we most often learn how to succeed.  Here’s the key though, embrace the lessons and move on. Too many men fail and instead of learning and moving on, they move into a paralyzing state of failure which leads to more failure and literally years can be wasted. The Bible says it perfectly:

Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

                I find great encouragement from the life of Peter who clearly has one of the darkest episodes of his life preserved in Scripture for all to see. But what a ministry God had for him after that! Peter fell but rose up again and so can you.

                Get Up Man!