Justification and Reconciliation

As children, most of us at one point or another stole some insignificant thing from a store while we were out with our parents. And most of us got dragged back into the store, made to apologize begrudgingly, our parents had to pay for our stolen candy bar that we had already opened, and then if they didn't think that we were really, REALLY sorry, we got a nice thrashing for it, too.

Romans 5:8-9 tells us that the blood of Jesus has given us justification. That's the payment that our Master made for our sins. This "saves us from God's wrath". This is where our parents have gone in and paid for our stolen goods. It's what keeps us from having the store owner press charges against us for shoplifting. According to Wikipedia, "When an act is justified, a person is not criminally liable even though his act would otherwise constitute an offense."

Justification, however, is only half of the equation. Now that the shop owner knows we steal, he's going to be suspicious every time we come in. But Romans 5:10-11 we see that we can also have reconciliation with God as well. This is where our parents tell us to apologize, and we can either give a true apology, or we can be snide about it. We now have an opportunity to be reconciled, or "have cordial relations reestablished". However, this takes not only the reconciliation and justification of the parent for us, but also our sincere apology for the wrong that we've done.

It takes both parties in a relationship to be in agreement in order to have reconciliation. We can have complete justification, and still be the enemy of God. There is no way that we can make restitution for our sin, there is no self-justification. We've already seen in Romans 5:8 that God has reached out to us. Our responsibility is that of reaching out to God with an open heart, being truly sorry for the sins that we've committed, and asking for reconciliation with Him. Jesus has opened the door for us to have a great friendship by offering the opportunity for reconciliation. Will we be snide, or will we with open arms cry out for our forgiveness?

The Yes Man

In my profession, sometimes people ask for some thing that isn't necessarily what they need, or something that might not be beneficial. And sometimes I say "yes" to those things, even though I really should guide those people toward something more useful to them. 2 Corinthians 1:19-22 tells us a little about saying "yes" and what that means.

We see in that short passage that all of the promises we have in God, Jesus our Savior says "Yes" to. Walking in the footsteps of Christ, we know that we also can say "yes" to the promises of God. We also can see through the study of the Bible that Jesus was the ultimate "YES" to the promise of God (Isaiah 53:2-7). And this is a promise of God's that we can't afford not say "yes" to.

1 Corinthians 15:58 tells us that we shouldn't say "yes" to every idea or opinion that the world presents to us. However, we should be ready to shout with a with a resounding "YES!" when God calls us to do His work. We should be "Yes Men" for Jesus.

Running the Race

I'm not personally a big follower of sports. You won't find me at a racetrack or a ball game. However, being a man, I talk to other men who most often are greatly concerned with following whatever sports are currently in season. However, whether you follow sports or not, there is one competition in which we all should be participating.

Hebrews 12:1-2 presents a challenge to us as Christians. Are we really being competitive in our Christian life? Or are we carrying around weights and sins? Do we keep stopping on the side of the track because we have so much baggage that we're ineffective runners? The Bible here lets us know that people are watching us, and we need to keep running. It says we need to throw off everything that hinders; throwing off just most of the stuff that hinders us but hanging on to part of it for ourselves isn't enough. We also need to throw off the sin that so easily entangles us. We get so tangled up in some insignificant thing in our life, and forget that we're in a race.

This is such a great analogy; you never see a race where one of the runners just suddenly forgets that they're racing. You see some runners get tired and quit. You see runners trip, stumble, and fall. You see ball players get tackled, pummeled, and injured. Most of them get back up and keep trying; pushing their bruised and tired bodies to the limit for the win.

Hebrews 12:3 goes on to say "Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." If we see Jesus, and we study His life, we see that he endured far worse than what we're going through, and He's promised He'll be here for us. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, He'll keep His hand on our lives, and we'll not give up and quit. If we turn and look at the things around us, we'll keep stumbling on the track. If we watch how other people are running, we're going to get disgruntled, and give up. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus and run our race.

More verses:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Philippians 3:14-15

Satan vs. Job round 2 (Part 6)

Job 2:7-8
I cannot imagine the torture this must have been. The Hebrew word for the sores is shĕchiyn. It is the same word used for the boils that were sent as a plague on Egypt. I've had a boil before, but I cannot imagine having them from head to toe. He was broken. He lost everything. With all of this happening, the worst was still to come.

Job 2:9-10
Satan must have felt that this would be the key. Everything else, and Job's wife was done. "Curse God and die" are not the words of a compassionate loving wife. These are the only words of Job's wife recorded in the Bible. With no one left to help him, at this point, the loneliness must have been unbearable. Pain, humiliation, and loss can be suffered by most people, but that feeling of separation from everyone and everything is one of the scariest feelings known to man. I truly believe that this is why the Bible describes Hell as a place of eternal separation from God. What could be worse? Here we see Job getting a small taste of that.

Job 2:11-13
Sympathy of friends can really be a good thing. Sometimes a simple vote of confidence from a friend can make a huge difference. These three started with good intentions. They obviously met first and surely they meant well for the Bible says they were setting out to comfort him. Yet what can it do to you when your three friends pull up on their camels, start crying, tear their clothes, sprinkle dust on their heads, and can't seem to come up with one word of sympathy. It's like they've seen his death certificate already. In their mind Job is already done.

Job still hasn't faltered. Up until now he's still put his faith solidly in his maker. "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" These words echo a faith so mighty that it wasn't toppled. For the one piece that Satan missed is that faith this mighty cannot live in the flesh. It lives in the soul. Job's soul belonged to God, so his faith rested in God. No matter what Satan did to Job's flesh, he couldn't steal his soul.

Trials of the Flesh (Part 5)

Again we find Satan intent on attacking Job. His property and family weren't enough. Now he's going for Job's flesh too. As though this would have some effect on Job's faith.

Job 2:4-6
Fateful words from Satan here. "A man will give all he has for his own life." How wonderful that at the Cross Jesus made him eat those words when He gave His life to gain the whole world. Satan is convinced that attacking Job's flesh will kill his faith in God.

This is definitely Satan's mode of operation. He attacks the flesh attempting to influence the spirit. So do not be surprised or disheartened when you are persecuted. In fact James 1:2-3 suggests we take a different approach, saying we should consider it joy.

Integrity in the face of Persecution (Part 4)

Continuing with our talk about Job. So far he's lost all his possessions. His children were killed. He doesn't have much left, but as we'll see here, Satan is intent on taking that as well.

1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."

Integrity is something that should be important to all men (and women). The definition of Integrity (from the free online dictionary) is adherence to moral principles. There couldn't be a better way for God to describe Job. The idea of integrity being something that has to be maintained not simply owned, leaves me with the impression that it's an action. Too often I find myself thinking of integrity as a state, but rather it is a constant action to maintain your integrity. There's a definite lesson here that Job, while afflicted, maintained his integrity in the face of persecution. How often have you been persecuted for your faith. Did you maintain your integrity like Job?

Satan vs. Job (Part 3)

Job 1:13-19
This pretty much wiped the slate clean for Job. Nothing left except his wife. While I've never been in this situation, I have lost loved ones, jobs, and goods before. Although I've never cursed God for it, I did have a lot of doubt and anger in my heart. In retrospect, I truly wish that my heart had been closer to God when it happened. If so, my reaction might have been more like Job's.

Job 1:20-22
While at first glance verse twenty might look like the acts of a crazy man, understand that in those days this was how one showed that they were in mourning. So we see Job do two things. First, he began to grieve. This is fairly normal for most people who just lost everything. Second, we see something that doesn't usually happen with most people. We see Job fall on his face before God, and worship. He basically says, "I started with nothing, and I'll die with nothing, praise God." What astounding faith he had. I am reminded of the verse of a famous hymn penned by Horatio Spafford at a time of great loss in his own life.

When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, though hast taught me to say
It is well, It is well with my soul

This perhaps should be our prayer in those times when we experience great loss, yet we find ourselves as men needing to be strong for our families. Being at peace with God through these times means that you know He holds the future, and that he cares about you. With this in mind you can rest assured that He will see you through whatever mint come your way.

God Knew Job (Part 2)

Job 1:6-8
That's a powerful thing to be said of you coming from God. It's like He's saying, "Wow, have you seen this guy?" Almost as if God was impressed by Job. It's one thing if men look at you and call you great, but from God that's an even more amazing testimony.

Job 1:9-12
This passage has always bothered me somewhat. It's another time when more than anything you have to trust God that he has a purpose for this to happen. In His perfect knowledge there must be something that warrants the misery that Job is about to endure.

There is definitely something to be said for consecrating yourself to God. This is definitely where Job was. It doesn't mean that everything will go fine. It's not a "get out of life free" card by any means. What it means is accepting His will in your life. It means surrender to Him. Kind of like that old hymn talks about.

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

Have you surrendered to God?

Once there was this guy named Job (Part 1)

It almost sounds like the beginning of a joke, or even a fairy tale. This is neither of the two.

Job 1:1
As a man of God, is there any better description you could desire? I love the way the Scriptures get right down to brass tacks. Here's two things he was, and two things he did. Together making a tremendous testimony about Job's life. As we read on, we see the blessings that God had given Job.

Job 1:2-3
Here we see an amazing amount of worldly goods. I think it's safe to say that Job was a successful father, business man, and man of God. This says a lot about Job. The following speaks volumes about what Job did.

Job 1:4-5
So, like a good father, Job regularly attended to the spiritual well being of his children. This is a good lesson for Godly men today. Are you looking after your children's souls? Do you pray for them, and check up on them? Are they on your minds as you go about your career? If not they should be. As the spiritual leader of your house you are responsible for your families spiritual well being. You can't make them follow God, but you can pray for them, and set a good example.

Saved by Faith! Now What?

If you’ve not been following over the last two days, or if you’ve not yet accepted God’s great gift of salvation and made Jesus master of your life, I urge you to go back two days and start reading there and catch up. Otherwise, read on!

So you’ve recently gotten saved, or you’re just drifting along in your spiritual life, and you’re unsure of what to do or where to go. Or maybe you’re a dedicated Christian, strong in the Lord. Whoever you are, if your sins have been covered by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, then these words apply to you.

Reading 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 2 Timothy 2:15, we see that we need to study the teachings we have, contained in the Bible, so that we can be strong Christians. We need to listen to well established Christians, our pastors, our teachers. We need to do our best to be approved by God. We need to do all we can to make sure we pass the muster when God looks at our lives. We need to be workmen for Christ. We need to be honest workers.

We need to study God’s Word (the Bible) so that we know the truth. When we know the truth, we are tasked with “correctly handling” it. Some translations of the Bible use the phrase “rightly dividing” in place of “correctly handles”. Literally, the original Greek word was orthotomeo (or-tho-to-me’-ō) made from the words orthos, meaning “straight”, and temno, meaning “cut”. We should be studying God’s Word so that when we have questions, or someone asks questions of us, we can give them a “straight cut” of the word of truth.

In Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15 we find both our biggest challenge, and our biggest reward. As Christ’s followers, this is to share the good news of salvation with everyone we can. If you’re happy about having a friend like Jesus, you’ll want other people to get to know Him too. You will try to live a better, more meaningful, and more Christ-like life, and the people who you come in contact with every day will want to know what’s different in your life. They’ll see how no longer being at war with God has brought peace to you, and we should be as prepared as possible to give them a straight cut answer when they ask us about it.

Saved by Faith!

In the last devotion I wrote about a woman whom I had stopped to help on the side of the road. If you haven’t read that article yet, you need to at a minimum go back in time a day and read that first paragraph. Now, why did I stop to help this woman? As I stated in the previous article, most of the time I consider myself “too busy” to stop. Rarely is this really true, most of the time I just don’t feel like it. In this particular case, I just felt like stopping to help.

But now I want to examine things on her side of the white line. She obviously knew something was wrong with her car, or she wouldn’t have been sitting there in the first place. Think for a moment to yourself if there was anything that she could have done to MAKE me stop? If she had jumped out into the busy street waving her arms, she might have been hit. She could have put on some sort of show on the side of the road, or even used sign language. But none of that would have made me stop if I had not already decided to stop in the first place.

Now we know that we were once sinners, and that Jesus died to forgive us of our sins, but is is there anything that we can do to earn our salvation? Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” So nothing we could have possibly ever done would have gained us the salvation that is now given to us by God through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. The only thing we can do for salvation is the same thing that everyone else has to: make Jesus the ruler of our lives, believe that God raised Him from the dead, and ask Him to forgive us of our sins.

You can’t buy yourself a gift from someone. Can I take a gift from the One who I have made Master of my life and say, “I earned this.”? If I earned it, then it’s not a gift, it’s a payment. If I could have earned my salvation or paid for it myself, then the sacrifice of Christ’s death on the cross is meaningless; I could have my salvation without Him. If there were some thing that we could do to be saved, then we would be equal with Christ; we would have to be spotless and without sin. This would be contrary to Romans 3:23’s statement that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Instead of being prideful, and instead of bragging about how great we are that we are saved, we should do as the Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: “But we ought always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Saved!

Today, as I was driving home, I spotted a car on the side of the road with the hood up, the standard symbol of “my car isn’t running”, and I decided to stop and offer a hand. I did all that my limited knowledge allowed, offered all the advice i could, asked if I could offer any further assistance, and then when there was nothing more I could do for her, I went on to my house.

Are you “broke down?” The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Every one of us has been broken down spiritually. And like a car with a broken thermostat, if we go down the road ignoring the problem, we will ultimately be far worse, and often irreparable damage will be done. Romans 6:23 tells us that the payment for our sin is death, but that debt is paid through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8 explains why the blood is important; because, despite our sins, Jesus died for us in a demonstration of God’s love. Jesus was crucified and died so that we could be forgiven. He’s stopped on the side of the road to give us a hand. But how do we let Him help us? Romans 10:9 says that the one and only thing we can do is acknowledge that Jesus died for our sins, believe that God raised Him from the dead, and then confess (declare) that Jesus is now the Master (Lord) of our life.

Romans 5:1 tells us that because of our belief, we are no longer at war with God, because now our Master gives us peace with Him. Jesus started this intercession for us with God as he was hanging crucified on the cross, when he said in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

If you haven’t done so already, I can tell you that turning your life over into the hands of Jesus is the single best thing you can ever do. All you have to do is just believe that Jesus died for your sins, and was raised from the dead by God, and then just talk to Jesus like you would talk to a friend. Tell Him that He is the Master of your life. Admit that you’re a sinner, and that you need forgiveness. Just like the lady on the side of the road, we have to get out of the car, admit we have a problem, and then let the One who stopped to help us take care of it. If we just take that step of faith, He will help us with everything else.

My Friend Jesus

The other week in Bible study, someone asked, “What would you say to Jesus if He sat down on a bus beside you and you recognized Him?” Now, for this exercise, there’s not really a “wrong” or “right” answer, but some answers are definitely “better” than others. I sat quietly and thought for a little bit while everyone else gave some interesting answers: “I’d ask to see the nail scars”, “I’d be speechless”, “I’d ask about...” The whole time that everyone was giving answers, I was sitting there thinking, and the only thing I could think was, “What would be of ANY significance upon actually meeting Christ? Nothing you could say would really be ‘enough’. At that point, no matter what you said or did, actually MEETING Him would be the coolest thing that could ever have happened to you in your life.” Suddenly, it occurred to me, I HAVE met Him.

I met Him at the foot of the cross where He died for my sins. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I fell in love with Him; and He has loved me from before I was conceived. In Jeremiah 1:5, God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee”.

So why then, should (or would) meeting Him face-to-face be any different? I should be talking to Him every day. I should be studying the things he taught. I should be asking Him for help with things in my life. I should be doing the things that He asks me to do. If He is supposed to already be my dearest friend, why should I be speechless to see Him? Obviously it would be incredible, but there’s no reason I shouldn’t know Him well enough that I wouldn’t know what to say to Him.

And then, as I continued to think about how that Jesus should already be my dearest friend, I realized that, even now, I treat my friendship with Christ differently than I treat my friendships with others, even my very closest earthly friends. When opportunity presents itself, I brag on some of my closest friends here on earth for their redeeming qualities. I would gladly take a bullet for my closest friends (yes, getting shot would suck, and I’d hope it’d hit me in the foot and not the face, but I’d still take it anyway). How often do we not just MISS opportunities to brag about Jesus, but FAIL to do so when we feel like we should? How often do I hide Jesus in my life from the world?

When we fail to do the will of our Father, we’re letting our best friend down. We’re trampling on the confidence our best friend has placed in us to perform a task. We wouldn’t dream of not feeding our friend’s dog while he’s out of town for a week, but we’ll fail time and again to do the simple things that God asks us to do; we even fail the things that are very specifically mentioned in the Bible, not just the little things we feel in our hearts we should do.

I know that I definitely need to work hard at being a better friend to Jesus, and I challenge you to examine your friendship with Him as well. Almost all of us know the song “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, but how many of us know “I’ll Be a Friend to Jesus”? Can we truly not just say that Jesus is our friend, but that we are His friend as well?

They tried my Lord and Master,
With no one to defend;
Within the halls of Pilate
He stood without a friend.

Chorus:
I’ll be a friend to Jesus,
My life for Him I’ll spend
I’ll be a friend to Jesus,
Until my years shall end.

The world may turn against Him,
I’ll love Him to the end,
And while on earth I’m living,
My Lord shall have a friend.

I’ll do what He may bid me;
I’ll go where He may send;
I’ll try each flying moment
To prove that I’m His friend.

To all who need a Savior,
My Friend I’ll recommend;
Because He brought salvation,
Is why I am His friend.

The Man Jesus

What is your perception of Jesus as a flesh and blood human being? I was curious to see how many artists had ever thought to portray Jesus “the man” and not Jesus “the emotion”. So, I did several searches through Google Images using various methods and keywords, and found only one image of a non-feminine Jesus Christ.

Think for a moment of all of the pictures you’ve seen of Jesus in your lifetime, and then think of the sort of life that the flesh and blood Jesus Christ lived. Jesus Christ, the baby born in a stable, with a feeding trough for a crib; Jesus Christ, the child raised by a carpenter. I’ve worked in a several different carpenter’s shops. I’m by no means cut out for that work by the way, and kudos to you if you are. Even with all of our fancy machines and all the technology we have now, it STILL isn’t easy work.

According to Luke 5:4-7, the adult man Jesus was welcome aboard fishing vessels. Watch The Deadliest Catch some time if you think being on a ship fishing ship is easy, then imagine it without any of the fancy technology. And don’t think for a second that anyone could get away with not working on a fishing boat back then. I can only imagine trying to heave a big net into a boat. I tried to seine a pond one time with a little net and thought I was going to die.

This man wasn’t by any means weak. The man Jesus walked all over an area approximately 5600 square miles ( around 140 mi x 40 mi) for about 4 years. This man is supposed to be the embodiment of what we as men should strive for today. Hebrews 4: 15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus the man had human desires. He had human emotions. It is by His life and by His words that we can measure what we should be. He spoke out boldly against the sins of the flesh; if He was without sin, and He spoke out against those things, then He did not participate in those things. Those are all easy traps for us men to fall into: lust, greed, sloth... to name just a few.

However, Mark 11:15-17 tells us that we’re not supposed to wuss up. Jesus (without sin) threw the merchants and their customers out of the temple, He overthrew the moneychangers’ tables and the seats of the guys selling doves. He was manly enough to take physical action without hesitation to defend what was right.

In our quest to become more Christ-like, let’s closely examine and remember who He really was. Let’s take into full account the life that He lived. I know I don’t measure up. But I also know that with God’s help I’ll continue to try. I would be PROUD to be so manly as Jesus.

God's Pleasure

I have one simple question today. Is God pleased with you? Often in our lives we seek the approval of colleagues, friends, and our spouses, but how often do we look to God for approval? In the Bible there are two occurrences where God speaks about people directly that have gained his approval. The first one we find in an exchange with Moses regarding the Children of Israel.

Let's look at Exodus 33:13-17. What an amazing request to ask God. So simple, yet so profound. “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” What I find even more awesome is the reply that God gives him. “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know your name.” Such a great testimony to have directly from God himself.

One other occurrence that is actually recorded four times (once per Gospel) is when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized.

In Mark 1:9-11, not settling for a simple whisper, God tears open heaven and exclaims “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” It’s reminiscent of a Father standing up at a baseball game and yelling “That’s My Boy!”

So how do you know if you are pleasing God? There have been multiple books, sermons, and other writings on this subject for years, but I think the best example again comes direct from the Word. The author of Hebrews is speaking about Enoch when he writes this passage.

Let's look at Hebrews 11:5-6.So here we see that the fancy Latin term Sola fide (Faith Alone) rings true. By faith alone can you please God. The author of Hebrews makes it even clearer by stating “And without faith it is impossible to please God.”

So to answer the simple question posed above, you have to ask yourself one simple question. Do you have Faith?

Hebrews 11:1-2
1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2 - This is what the ancients were commended for.

Straight Talk

What’s your water cooler chat like? Do you get wrapped up in the stuff that’s going on in everyone else’s lives? Do you laugh at vulgar jokes or even tell a few yourself? I know that I’ve been guilty of all of these things more than a few times in my Christian life, and it’s an area that I have to constantly and actively watch. Today’s devotion begins in 2 Timothy 2 where we find Paul talking to Timothy about living a Christlike life. We’ll start with 2 Timothy 2:4-5.

We see that it pleases the one who enlisted us, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when we choose not to get tangled up in what’s going on around us. We also see that we have to play according to the rules if we want to win the prize, eternal life in Heaven. So, what should we do then? I’m not one of those overzealous people who thinks that anything not specifically about God should be avoided. But where should we draw the line, and what should we or shouldn’t we be a party to? And what should we do when we see others getting involved in this sort of behavior?

2 Timothy 2:14-17 and 2 Timothy 2:20-26 give us more insight into what our reaction should be. Most of my life, I’ve either idly stood by and thought that as long as I wasn’t an active participant in a conversation, I could stand there with the rest of the guys and laugh at the dirty jokes, and if it got “too bad” I could just walk away. But we see here a lot of action words, like “avoid”, “pursue”, “refuse”, “cleanse”, and so on. We’re supposed to be a “workman”. You can’t be an idle workman. And you can’t stand by doing nothing and be active in any manner.

We see in 2 Timothy 2:20-23 that we have a responsibility to “cleanse ourselves of these things” so that we can be useful to God (the Master). Cleansing ourselves is another thing that we can’t do idly. You can’t cleanse yourself while taking in dirty jokes, or morally bankrupt stories. We see that we should flee these things that are so attractive and easy to fall into, and then we get to the part about what we should be doing. We should (once again, actively) pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. We should (actively again) refuse foolish and ignorant speculations.

But now we come to the hardest part. As men, regardless of what people think, most of us avoid confrontation as much as possible, and seek to make our confrontations as short lived as possible. However, starting in 2 Timothy 2:24, we’re given another course of action that’s a lot harder for us to follow. We’re supposed to “with gentleness” correct those who are in opposition. This passage shows that even if we’re in the presence of non-believers, we’re still supposed to guide people away from unclean acts.

I know there are lots of things that I’ve been a part of that other spiritual men stood by and saw me do, and didn’t guide me away from those things. I hold only myself responsible for those things, but wouldn’t it have been better to have been gently reminded that what I was partaking of was immoral. And since I’ve become a Christian, there are many things that I had done in my life before, that now I’ve had to go back and apologize to someone for wronging them.

So, as we go about our workday, and as we live our lives, let’s keep an active guard for the words that you hear, and the conversations that we’re a part of. Let’s be active in our conversations to speak out against immoral, untrue, and unclean topics. Remember that it’s our God-given responsibility to not only “not participate”, but also to guide others away from those topics as well. Let’s think in every conversation, “Could I stand here in the presence of the Perfect Man, and participate in this conversation?”, and then let’s act accordingly.

Introduction

I’ve looked for some time for a “men’s daily devotional” blog, or something like that, and thus far, my search has found a very few gender neutral devotional sites, and a few women’s devotional sites, but not a single current devotional site dedicated strictly to men (there were a couple of blogs that re-post old writings from great men of the past). Therefore, I’ve decided to begin one. I’m probably not, nor do I consider myself to be, the perfect person to do this. I have many of my own shortcomings, both as a Christian, and as a man. This blog is as much (if not more) for myself as it is for any other men looking for a daily devotional site.

My goal in this is to keep ALL material and posts on this site to be religion neutral, and Biblically specific. While I encourage discussion, I would request that all comments and discussions be made with that in mind. In this blog, I represent no specific religion or religious group. I make representation only of the Word of God (the Holy Bible), and the manner in which it speaks to me. As a man, it is possible that I may from time to time post something out of context or something that may be incorrect. I beg you to forgive me in the case that I do, and I urge you to inform me as well, so that restitution/correction can be made.

Now, let us explore how we as man can improve our lives by examining the life and words of the perfect man, Jesus Christ, the Carpenter from Nazareth, and the words of His Father.