Real Men

I had the opportunity on Thursday to listen to a sermon on godly men and their work. The preacher encouraged Christian men in the church to get off their hindquarters and get busy being men (that is a TruThseeker paraphrase). Instead of relaxing on our Stratford sectionals and in our La-Z-boy recliners while spending the day watching college football and accruing unneeded fat calories, we should invest in things of the Kingdom for the glory of the Father. I must think that this issue should be very taxing to some men in the church.

In order to help men remember to work, the preacher gave the acronym I.R.S. The ‘I’ stands for Initiative. Godly men, real men, take initiative. They do not wait to be directed but rather, upon finding problems, take it upon themselves to find the solution. They do not need to be micromanaged nor babysat. They recognize that their work is, by all accounts, payable to the Father as a good work He planned beforehand.

The ‘R’ stands for responsibility. Personally I think that responsibility is the root of the ‘IRS’ tree. If godly men were not responsible, they would not take initiative. Rather, they would be ungodly men, seeking the satisfaction of self, waging war against the dual threat of boredom and a sore buttocks. As they levy the tax of entertainment against the laziness of their slothful day, they are storing up judgment for themselves which is, by all accounts, receivable upon the glorious coming of the Lord.

The preacher is talking to Christians, not to unbelievers. However, this magnifies the atrocity. It uncovers how we, children of God, have embezzled His glory and invested it in the god of Self. Instead, we should admit that we have sinned on a cosmic level. We should seek repentance in Christ and live by the Spirit.

Having done that, we have arrived at the ‘S’ – Service! There is perhaps no better fruit of Spiritual immaturity than lack of service. If God prepared for us good works that we should walk in them, then we should walk in them! What does it say about the church when men, the God-ordained leaders, will not obey their Savior?

What example have we set for the next generation? We have young men who will spend hours exercising their thumbs on video game control pads, but will not even work hard enough to sweat when a service opportunity arises. In fact, they will not even notice the opportunity! We have young men who do not know how to work! We have invested our assets in ourselves and the return on that investment is the bankruptcy of our youths.