Discussing baby steps in the church
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
We started last week discussing men in the church, but just as any other group there is so much more to learn. Can I ask you a personal question? Are you ever lonely? I don't mean to do never have people around you, but can you be lonely in a room filled with people? I believe the answer to that question is yes. There are many times when we can and do feel not only lonely but friendless in this life because we are never taught as men how to open up to another person and share deep parts of who we are created to be.
It is a proven fact that only 10% of men over 35 have a good friend, and that is because for almost 2 generations in this country we have ignored the real development of complete men. It has been said concerning man that"friendship is most noticeable by its absence"real friendship isn't experienced very often by men today, but why is that? Patrick Marley in his book"the man in the mirror"wrote"while most men recruit six pallbearers hardly anyone has a friend they can call at 2 AM in the morning. As the male gender we have suffered a great identity theft from our society and our culture, and it has caused tremendous harm to our families and to the moral fabric of our nation. The question is who is to blame? When all of the finger-pointing and the dust settles we can point a finger at anyone, but in reality there are four fingers pointing right back at each one of us. What that means is that if men had not stopped doing the job God had created them to do in the church we would not have this mess today. It means that sooner or later all of those who refuse to take up the call of manhood when they were younger still find themselves in the hot seat for those actions. It means that as men we still need to learn a very basic lesson. We can receive God's love freely as a gift but it can never be freely given away by us anymore than it was free to Jesus Christ to give his love and his life for us.
I believe there are reasons for why we as men have such trouble relating to those who are around us it starts with rebellion against authority and she, and spreads like a disease through the hearts of men who want to control; yet who do not have the ability or the wisdom to control. Society becomes much like a mental hospital where the patients have taken on daily control and operation over the doctors and the nurses. We see the result of a politically correct few who have managed to control the seats of the lives of many key places in life. We can see this at work in some very in efficient and broken legal systems we have. We as the great but very silent majority have allowed an opinion to be voice and left on answered. It is much like our apathy toward correcting our own why this one we know what is wrong refuse to acknowledge it. Evil will not stop if it is ignored; it will grow stronger until if left unchecked it will lay claim to everything we have and everything we would ever hope to tree.
When we have nothing and have no hope of a dream there will soon be no freedom left to dream. Men are emotionally isolated and disconnected, and that attitude has bled into our churches. There are plenty of reasons for this to. When emotional pain hits a man he often lacks the ability to understand it or deal with. He has never had anyone to teach him how. He has had no examples of where to go to find strength and encouragement beyond himself, and so he tries not to fill. He tries to anesthetize it. It's not always with abuse or drugs or alcohol. Sometimes it is through busyness, which develops workaholics. They become insensitive and blind to their spouses or to the discouraging thing and the dissatisfaction they feel at home. Feelings can be replaced by many things, but as feelings are replaced a disk trust settles into a man's heart that often closes the door for anyone to be allowed in... Not even a friend. Some of you as men may be feeling this right now. Others may be dealing with the effects of a man going through this. It does effect all of the church, and it is something that we need to deal with. Join with me in the next blog as we continue with this discussion and many more that has caused our society and our fellowship in Christ to be attacked the enemy. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
We started last week discussing men in the church, but just as any other group there is so much more to learn. Can I ask you a personal question? Are you ever lonely? I don't mean to do never have people around you, but can you be lonely in a room filled with people? I believe the answer to that question is yes. There are many times when we can and do feel not only lonely but friendless in this life because we are never taught as men how to open up to another person and share deep parts of who we are created to be.
It is a proven fact that only 10% of men over 35 have a good friend, and that is because for almost 2 generations in this country we have ignored the real development of complete men. It has been said concerning man that"friendship is most noticeable by its absence"real friendship isn't experienced very often by men today, but why is that? Patrick Marley in his book"the man in the mirror"wrote"while most men recruit six pallbearers hardly anyone has a friend they can call at 2 AM in the morning. As the male gender we have suffered a great identity theft from our society and our culture, and it has caused tremendous harm to our families and to the moral fabric of our nation. The question is who is to blame? When all of the finger-pointing and the dust settles we can point a finger at anyone, but in reality there are four fingers pointing right back at each one of us. What that means is that if men had not stopped doing the job God had created them to do in the church we would not have this mess today. It means that sooner or later all of those who refuse to take up the call of manhood when they were younger still find themselves in the hot seat for those actions. It means that as men we still need to learn a very basic lesson. We can receive God's love freely as a gift but it can never be freely given away by us anymore than it was free to Jesus Christ to give his love and his life for us.
I believe there are reasons for why we as men have such trouble relating to those who are around us it starts with rebellion against authority and she, and spreads like a disease through the hearts of men who want to control; yet who do not have the ability or the wisdom to control. Society becomes much like a mental hospital where the patients have taken on daily control and operation over the doctors and the nurses. We see the result of a politically correct few who have managed to control the seats of the lives of many key places in life. We can see this at work in some very in efficient and broken legal systems we have. We as the great but very silent majority have allowed an opinion to be voice and left on answered. It is much like our apathy toward correcting our own why this one we know what is wrong refuse to acknowledge it. Evil will not stop if it is ignored; it will grow stronger until if left unchecked it will lay claim to everything we have and everything we would ever hope to tree.
When we have nothing and have no hope of a dream there will soon be no freedom left to dream. Men are emotionally isolated and disconnected, and that attitude has bled into our churches. There are plenty of reasons for this to. When emotional pain hits a man he often lacks the ability to understand it or deal with. He has never had anyone to teach him how. He has had no examples of where to go to find strength and encouragement beyond himself, and so he tries not to fill. He tries to anesthetize it. It's not always with abuse or drugs or alcohol. Sometimes it is through busyness, which develops workaholics. They become insensitive and blind to their spouses or to the discouraging thing and the dissatisfaction they feel at home. Feelings can be replaced by many things, but as feelings are replaced a disk trust settles into a man's heart that often closes the door for anyone to be allowed in... Not even a friend. Some of you as men may be feeling this right now. Others may be dealing with the effects of a man going through this. It does effect all of the church, and it is something that we need to deal with. Join with me in the next blog as we continue with this discussion and many more that has caused our society and our fellowship in Christ to be attacked the enemy. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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