Wisdom

Let’s be honest with ourselves, if you knowingly have sin in your life and never address it then you have no fear of God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Proverbs 1:7

Knowledge or Wisdom begins with fearing God, that is a pretty strong statement and men being men may take some offense to that Proverb. For one it goes against what we as men have heard our whole lives, to not fear anyone or anything. The simple truth is until us as men begin to truly fear God and make him the center of our lives with our decision making, with our actions, thoughts and words we will remain enslaved by the lust in our lives.

I was raised in a Catholic home, we were regular attendee’s until I was about 15 or 16 yrs old or at least that is when I stopped going. I can remember seeing no point in church; the priest never discussed anything that actually helped me with any of the problems that I was dealing with. Sure there were some sermons about God's wrath and the types of sin, but nothing in detail that actually addressed any way to overcome the sin in my life. It seemed like church was one big front for everyone to say they where saved when in actuality lots of people where hurting. Now I am not downing the Catholic Church or any type of domination. I am just simply saying that as far as how to be a Godly man, I never heard that discussed. This is no fault to the church; most churches won't touch the issues of men. Take a look around the next time you are in church and see the ratio of men to women. If your church is like most women out number men; preachers have a hard time teaching on men's battles because most struggle just like the rest of us and men being men have a hard time discussing it with each other simply because we don't want to be perceived as weak or vulnerable. We are all struggling to some degree and God makes it clear that it cannot continue if you want a relationship with God. "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." - John 3:9

God gives us all the option to simply walk away from the sin, especially sexual sin. I got to a point in my life where I was simply managing my sexual sin. I did this with things like shock radio stations such as Howard Stern who almost always had some type of lewd headline that would satisfy my selfish desires. With porn being readily assessable at the click of a mouse it wasn't hard to take 10 or 15 minutes a week to get my fix. You understand sexual sin can be just like a habit or addiction. It is something that makes us feel good for a few moments something that gives us that short adrenaline high or something that gives us a relief from stress. In the world we live in today we can get our fix anywhere. Think about it, most convenient stores in larger cities have it all in one, they offer nicotine, alcohol, pornography and sometimes there is access to drugs.

Sin in men's lives has some how been glorified in every venue in the world. If you just watch basic sitcom TV there is tons of sexual references and immoral activity that occurs. Recently me and my wife were watching a movie on ABC Family, this is supposed to be the station that is suitable for family audiences; however, there was a preview for a new sitcom called Roommates. This sitcom consisted of 5 individuals and their relationships that included sexual references not to mention sexual scenes. These may not have been what the movie critics would rate 'R' but the question is, what would God rate it? We as men have to be aware of the smallest penetrations into our minds that would stir sexual impure thoughts. Recently me and my wife were faced with a dilemma, teenagers and adults were going an watching the hit comedy 'The Hangover'. So many people where telling us how hilarious the movie was and how the comedy was incredible. We went to a movie review website that breaks down the movie, it is called http://www.pluggedinonline.com/. Here is what was reported as the conclusion of the film:

The Hangover is a movie about how much debauchery a handful of guys can commit—and forget—in one night. There's not much more to it than that. In some ways, it's a relief that the filmmakers didn't try to make up for all the depravity by tacking on a "redeeming" moral at the end. Any attempt to do so would have been too little, too late.

Yet, in other ways, it's surprising how subversive this film is, all the way through. For example, even with the elaborate wedding at the end, the concept of faithfulness doesn't get much of a nod. Instead of promising Tracy he won't ever try the same kind of shenanigans again, Doug promises not to do it "for as long as we're married."

Besides that, the makers of The Hangover weren't satisfied with creating just any 80-proof R-rated movie. They included brazen, 100-proof scenes of male and female nudity, plus an overdose of foul language to ensure that their finished product was as sordid and titillating as possible.

Now here is what 1Corinthians 6:9-10 says - Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

We as men must be on guard. God takes sin seriously and makes it clear throughout the Bible but he doesn't want us to fail in the world. He wants us to be in the world and not OF the world by participating in sin. He wants us to be a light that leads people to a true relationship with Christ.

Barriers

I always felt so far from God. For some strange reason the further I felt the stronger I felt as if there was something bigger out there. I can't tell you why everyone does certain things but I can give you some insight on why I did the things I did.

I can remember watching Kurt Cobain on MTV and wanting to be him, wanting that feeling of fame and power. When he committed suicide in 1994 I couldn't figure out how a person could get so low that death would be a better option than life especially with all the money and power he had at the height of his career. I would later learn (along with the rest of the country) that he had a terrible drug problem which involved heroin at the time of his death. I always questioned why would someone do drugs? Especially with money, fame and pretty much anything a person could want...from the world. Little did I know that later in my own life I would see how a person gets to a point of destroying their own body?

In the summer of 1996 I was entering my senior year of high school. I had broken up with my first ever girlfriend and I was attending my first real party with the feeling of complete freedom. I can remember the first drink of alcohol I ever took and that same night I started smoking cigarettes. I fell in love with the feeling of being drunk, it made me forget the thoughts that were running through my head, it made me forget about not having plans for the future, it allowed me not worry about not having clear direction in my life. When I got drunk, I felt alive because I didn't have to face my problems; I didn't have to face tomorrow or any of its questions. Instead of concentrating on myself and a relationship with God, all my attention went into myself and how I could distract myself more from the problems that were facing me each day. I didn't apply myself in school so I didn't even apply for colleges, I was in a relationship that I didn't like but had no idea how to get out of. I was staring down a future that I had seen played out in older people around my community.

When I graduated I gravitated to individuals who shared my same fears, of course we didn't talk about them, but I think that we all knew. For some people alcohol and cigarettes run its course in a person’s body and become 'not enough'. We would then turn to marijuana or weed as it is most commonly known. This new addiction caused new problems and drama became the norm. My life was falling apart from the inside out; however, I couldn't tell. In the summer of 1999 I moved to Waco to attend a technical college. I also brought along my girlfriend who was very similar to me; looking for a way out and doing everything to make sense of things. We immediately got hooked up with a group of individuals who could supply us drugs and some twisted version of friendship. This is when my life began to spin out of control. This is when I felt the furthest from God. I was doing so many different types of drugs that I didn't know what was normal or what being happy meant. My close friends (who I had distanced myself from because they didn't share my same interests anymore) would make comments like "you look terrible" or "you need to slow down". Being this far from God can be scary because I began to question what the point for life was, I began to not care whether I died or lived. I wasn't suicidal, I just got to a place of not caring... it is a tough place. It is a place in life that is described in the book of Isaiah - "But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you" Isaiah 59:2

I don't know what Kurt's relationship was with the Lord and no one knows what drove him to the lifestyle that he lived. I can only share with you the glimpse that I experienced. I can assume that Kurt had grown so far from God with all of the barriers he had put up. I too was putting up barriers, when I was scared, alone or hurt. Deep down I knew who to turn to, but I choose the easy way out. I chose the easy way because it wouldn't force me to change, it wouldn't force me to deal with those deep dark problems that I had. For me it all began when I was 13, with the acceptance of lust into my life, my separation from God began with a few simple choices.

Matthew 8:19-22 says "Then a teacher of the law came to Him and said 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the some of man has no place to lay his head.' Another disciple said to Him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus told him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'" For many years I had made excuses of why not to follow Jesus, why not to change, making statements like "this is who I am". I didn't understand that God wanted me to have a better life, He wanted to use me. When I finally accepted his call, I dropped it all and decided to follow him with all my heart. Sure I mess up but I now know where and how to turn for help.

God calls All...

A Man's Greatest Battle

A man's greatest battle takes place not in a foreign land or in the workforce attempting to "get ahead"; it doesn't even take place in the dating arena or in marriages. It takes place in ourselves, it is the hopes and desires that we have in our hearts that fail to appear. The battle is between ourselves and the lust that fills a man's heart.

When you hear the word lust you may think of the verse out of the book of Matthew which states, But I tell you that anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28). Now don't get me wrong, this is a very important part of lust; however, there is more to lust that affects our lives as men. Remember in Spider-Man 3 with Spider-Man is battling with his "darker" self? When Spider-Man is faced with this more darker, selfish version of himself he tends to look at situations in a mindset of what he is going to get out of them. Situations that he would typically be in to just save people he would look to those situations for glorification of himself. He also wanted more material possessions and power. He started to put his heart into power and possessions and it was creating a internal battle in Spider-Man. I am not some comic book junkie; however, I like to watch movies and this one really symbolizes that battle that we as men have throughout our lives.

The internal battle that is going on with Spider-Man has actually been experienced by all man in some form or fashion. I know that the battle is still going on for me at times; however, there was a day and time that it consumed me and I didn't even realize it was consuming me. Lust is something that we feel not only toward women but also toward people who have what we want; such as jobs or luxury cars. "To continue to desire... would have been allowing the feeling to result in inappropriate action." (The Power of a Loving Man, Jernigan, Jeff)

These feelings of wanting "things" comes from us feeling inadequate in the world in which we live. This feeling of being inadequate or powerless tends to lead to things that give us some sort of false assurance with our masculinity. For me, it was lust of women in the form of pornography. Sadly when I was 12 yrs old it was not hard to find with the type of friends that I had. For me pornography was something that I went to as my safe haven, it was something that wouldn't remind me of everything that I wasn't, it wouldn't judge me and it certainly didn't make me feel like less of a man. What it did though was feed a selfish desire that would later feed other selfish desires in my life.

I call this blog "A Man's Greatest Battle" because the lust of a man's heart is the greatest battle. It is a battle that most men are losing and they don't even realize it; it is a battle that is tearing marriages apart, breaking relationships, preventing happiness and most of all is preventing a relationship with God. A relationship that He is wanting you to experience. In this blog I will discuss A Man's Greatest Battle through the eyes of a man who has been fighting it ever since February of 2005 when I accepted Jesus' call on my life.