“Mmm…dang! Check her out, man!!” Just one of the many common responses, a guy has to show their interest in a fine girl walking by. There really can’t be anything wrong with that, so girls get off our backs about it. It’s just the way us guys are, there is no harm in it. If anything, just look at it this way, we are giving women an approval rating so that they can feel better about themselves.
Maybe all that is true to a degree. I mean, besides girls allow us to do it, so obviously there can’t be anything wrong with it. But, is it okay still for a so-called Christian man to act this way? In Ephesians 4:22 it says, “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.” That day, that you accepted and asked Christ to come and run your life, you set behind your old ways, and accepted the new. Often we tend to think that the Word of God, is just some book of suggestions from God. But, it’s not, it’s a Holy Book filled will laws and guidelines for how we should live our lives.
In Genesis 2:18, God declares, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Too often we have this attitude that, well God created women for me, so I will do as I please. We see them as the ones to just simply meet our immediate needs; whether it’s cleaning, cooking or SEX! But, think of it as Matthew Henry puts it, “If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined, one removed further from the earth.” Now, if you stop a minute and reread that once more, you will realize God gave you something pure and beautiful. He didn’t give us some scraps, or leftovers. He gave us His best!
Regardless, of what the media is trying to push, and get you to believe. God, Himself has given man to duty to love and protect the purity and being of this precious, beautiful gift, He has given us. You see, it is one thing for just any guy to sexually exploit women, and make them out to be just a sex symbol. But as a Christian man, we have the Word of God which instructs us to protect women from this very thing. Yet, so many of us (including myself at times) continue to ignore this instruction.
Through the praying, studying, and writing of this post, I sought out the thoughts from different women on this topic. As a male, I know this is the one topic that most of us struggle with the most, however I believe it is good for us to see how our actions are affecting women. I must say, it is deeply disheartening and upsetting to hear how something that we do, can have such a lasting, negative impact on a women’s life. One thing, that really struck me is every single lady I talked to, said that the majority of men don’t respect them, and just use them. One girl (who isn’t a Christian), told me she has always been mistreated and used for sex. Then she said she started dating a nice Christian guy, hoping things would be different, only to find herself in that same lost, used up place.
We so quickly will raise up our hands, and declare it loud, “I am a Christian! I am different!” But, are we? Some guys may try to argue the fact that we look lustfully, because they show it. But, you must remember women are attracted to men as well. Think of it this way: If you are somewhere, and a girl walks into the room, with her hair down, a lot of makeup, a mini skirt, and a low cut shirt. But, she also walks in with her friend, who has her hair up, no makeup, jeans, and a sweater. Which one is going to get your attention? You see, often times a women will dress or act improperly so that YOU and I will notice them!
Is it possible for you to look at a woman, and not think a sexual thought? As a Christian, Christ dwells in us, and we are to be Christ-like. So, the next time you walk in a room and see a gorgeous girl, will you begin to fantasize about her in your mind? Or will you see her through the eyes God does? There is nothing wrong with being attracted to a women, it’s a natural thing. But, the sin comes on how we react.
Girls are led to believe that “boys will be boys” from a young age. That statement is 100% true, but should not be true in the life of a godly man. It is time for Christian men to, be just that, a MAN! It’s time to put our old ways behind us, and protect one of the greatest gifts that Christ gave us. Instead of assisting Satan in destroying it. We are not of this world, therefore we need to stop giving into this whole attitude that girls are something that belong in a deli, or a garage. Yet, sadly in many cases we treat the car in the garage with more love and respect, than we do women.
Not tomorrow, not next week, but NOW! Now, this is the time to change, to stand up and protect, provide, comfort, and love women. Not only because it is what they so deeply desire and deserve, but because God demands it from us. It’s time to show the world, exactly what a man is suppose to look like.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
What have you done for God today?
So, what exactly does your typical day hold? Maybe it goes something like this…
You of course wake up, slowly dragging yourself out of bed. You go ahead and say a quick prayer, or maybe you hit the snooze button too many times, so now you don’t have time for that. You eat, get ready, and quickly rush into another day. You drive to work, and spend the majority of the day wishing the day would be over. Because, you hate your job, or your tired, or whatever it may be. Regardless, our lives are often filled with a lot of complaining. Then you go home, make dinner, or maybe tonight you will treat yourself to a nice restaurant. Afterwards, you will watch the television, mess around on the computer, and then it’s off to bed. Just to get up in the morning and restart this endless cycle.
I honestly must say that sounds like any normal day for me. We just drag ourselves through the week, so that we can get to that much anticipated weekend. That time where we can catch up on yard work, go shopping, spend a day relaxing, watch the game, or in just some way pampering ourselves. Well, we do deserve it with everything that we do. Am I right? I mean if no one is going to notice all the hard work that I do, I might as well be the one to reward myself. But, in the end of it all, what is missing from all that? There has to be more to life than just constantly going full speed in total confusion.
Over the past few months, I have been searching for answers to this question. Maybe, part of the answer lies behind the fact that we must have a heart and a lifestyle that is that of a servant. Now that is a little different way of looking at it. See, many people will claim they have a heart of a servant, but does your lifestyle agree with that?
For me personally, I don’t have much that I can boast about. I’m 23, and I am currently still living at home, have very little college completed, and work as a custodian at a high school. Because, of mistakes that I have made, I am paying the consequences. A custodial position is not highly looked upon, and at times I am embarrassed to say what I do. But, our attitudes have a lot to do with our serving. So, rather than go, well I have made a mess of my life and now I’m stuck cleaning toilets, until I finish school. I now see my job as a opportunity to serve, a chance to give back to those teachers that gave so much to me.
The only person that knows the attitude behind your actions is YOU! Now, I want to take a moment and say, my intent is never to point fingers, or put myself on some type of pedestal. I have been there, and we all live in a world where we must constantly fight a daily battle to make sure we don’t end up back in that place. I don’t want to judge you or anyone else, because I know once I do, then I have lost focus. My only intent is to allow God to speak through me to share His Message, and through that, I trust God will then deal with your heart accordingly and lead you to a decision. But, I am not here to judge, I will leave that up to God.
Serving others, is often very rewarding. But, is that the big thing that is missing from our daily lives? The true answer to the question is so simple, yet is so often overlooked. Sometimes we get so focused on ourselves, on helping others, on family, and even on church. That we too often forget to leave time for God. Wait! Did I just say, we go to church, but still fail to give time to God?
There are a total of 168 hours in a week. We will say that we get 8 hours of sleep a night, and we work 8 hours a day and to make it easier we will say we will say we do this all 7 days of the week. Which leaves us at 56 hours left in the week. So, let’s say the average person spends 3 hours a week worshipping God. Now, we are just talking about worshipping and praising God, whether it’s spent in prayer, at church, in Bible study, or in another way. Not by attending a church business meeting, or sitting in on some committee meeting, or going to a church dinner, going to choir practice, or going to some other activity that the church hosts, but actually spending time worshipping God. So, by giving God 3 hours of our week we are giving less than 2%. What are we doing with the other 53 hours, or the other 32%?!
Often our excuse is that life is hectic and it’s difficult to always find time. But, honestly if something came up that we wanted to do, would we not find a way to make sure we got to? The simple fact is God wants and desires to be the center of your life. There is also the possibility that if you are only giving God a few hours a week, maybe your doing it for all the wrong reasons. For me, I have always gone to church, that was the way I was raised, so I know I’m suppose to be there. But, you can be somewhere physically, and still fail to be there mentally, emotionally, and/or spiritually.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to undermine the importance of serving others, or taking care of some personal things. That too, is important. However, our daily life should not revolve around those activities. Yet, if you find the time for God, and give Him control of the day, it won’t take long before you realize that you will also have time for everything else that needs to be done. Each day is a struggle for many of us. But, it doesn’t have to be! Francis Chan, once said it perfectly, “We are busy because in so many ways we are trying to do God's job and we are tired because we are not God." So, why don’t we stop trying to do what we are not suppose to, and put more focus on what we are.
So, we can take a moment and remember what we did today. Will we continue to ignore God, and continue through life doing things our own way in utter confusion. Stop what your doing for a minute! Look around you. Look at all that God has blessed you with; family, friends, children, a job, a home, etc. But, most importantly you have been given a chance to have a intimate and personal relationship with the Maker of all things. Christ while He was here on earth died on the cross so that you may have eternal life with Him. So, ask yourself again, what have I done for God today?
You of course wake up, slowly dragging yourself out of bed. You go ahead and say a quick prayer, or maybe you hit the snooze button too many times, so now you don’t have time for that. You eat, get ready, and quickly rush into another day. You drive to work, and spend the majority of the day wishing the day would be over. Because, you hate your job, or your tired, or whatever it may be. Regardless, our lives are often filled with a lot of complaining. Then you go home, make dinner, or maybe tonight you will treat yourself to a nice restaurant. Afterwards, you will watch the television, mess around on the computer, and then it’s off to bed. Just to get up in the morning and restart this endless cycle.
I honestly must say that sounds like any normal day for me. We just drag ourselves through the week, so that we can get to that much anticipated weekend. That time where we can catch up on yard work, go shopping, spend a day relaxing, watch the game, or in just some way pampering ourselves. Well, we do deserve it with everything that we do. Am I right? I mean if no one is going to notice all the hard work that I do, I might as well be the one to reward myself. But, in the end of it all, what is missing from all that? There has to be more to life than just constantly going full speed in total confusion.
Over the past few months, I have been searching for answers to this question. Maybe, part of the answer lies behind the fact that we must have a heart and a lifestyle that is that of a servant. Now that is a little different way of looking at it. See, many people will claim they have a heart of a servant, but does your lifestyle agree with that?
For me personally, I don’t have much that I can boast about. I’m 23, and I am currently still living at home, have very little college completed, and work as a custodian at a high school. Because, of mistakes that I have made, I am paying the consequences. A custodial position is not highly looked upon, and at times I am embarrassed to say what I do. But, our attitudes have a lot to do with our serving. So, rather than go, well I have made a mess of my life and now I’m stuck cleaning toilets, until I finish school. I now see my job as a opportunity to serve, a chance to give back to those teachers that gave so much to me.
The only person that knows the attitude behind your actions is YOU! Now, I want to take a moment and say, my intent is never to point fingers, or put myself on some type of pedestal. I have been there, and we all live in a world where we must constantly fight a daily battle to make sure we don’t end up back in that place. I don’t want to judge you or anyone else, because I know once I do, then I have lost focus. My only intent is to allow God to speak through me to share His Message, and through that, I trust God will then deal with your heart accordingly and lead you to a decision. But, I am not here to judge, I will leave that up to God.
Serving others, is often very rewarding. But, is that the big thing that is missing from our daily lives? The true answer to the question is so simple, yet is so often overlooked. Sometimes we get so focused on ourselves, on helping others, on family, and even on church. That we too often forget to leave time for God. Wait! Did I just say, we go to church, but still fail to give time to God?
There are a total of 168 hours in a week. We will say that we get 8 hours of sleep a night, and we work 8 hours a day and to make it easier we will say we will say we do this all 7 days of the week. Which leaves us at 56 hours left in the week. So, let’s say the average person spends 3 hours a week worshipping God. Now, we are just talking about worshipping and praising God, whether it’s spent in prayer, at church, in Bible study, or in another way. Not by attending a church business meeting, or sitting in on some committee meeting, or going to a church dinner, going to choir practice, or going to some other activity that the church hosts, but actually spending time worshipping God. So, by giving God 3 hours of our week we are giving less than 2%. What are we doing with the other 53 hours, or the other 32%?!
Often our excuse is that life is hectic and it’s difficult to always find time. But, honestly if something came up that we wanted to do, would we not find a way to make sure we got to? The simple fact is God wants and desires to be the center of your life. There is also the possibility that if you are only giving God a few hours a week, maybe your doing it for all the wrong reasons. For me, I have always gone to church, that was the way I was raised, so I know I’m suppose to be there. But, you can be somewhere physically, and still fail to be there mentally, emotionally, and/or spiritually.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to undermine the importance of serving others, or taking care of some personal things. That too, is important. However, our daily life should not revolve around those activities. Yet, if you find the time for God, and give Him control of the day, it won’t take long before you realize that you will also have time for everything else that needs to be done. Each day is a struggle for many of us. But, it doesn’t have to be! Francis Chan, once said it perfectly, “We are busy because in so many ways we are trying to do God's job and we are tired because we are not God." So, why don’t we stop trying to do what we are not suppose to, and put more focus on what we are.
So, we can take a moment and remember what we did today. Will we continue to ignore God, and continue through life doing things our own way in utter confusion. Stop what your doing for a minute! Look around you. Look at all that God has blessed you with; family, friends, children, a job, a home, etc. But, most importantly you have been given a chance to have a intimate and personal relationship with the Maker of all things. Christ while He was here on earth died on the cross so that you may have eternal life with Him. So, ask yourself again, what have I done for God today?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)