First of all:

Welcome Home All Who Have Served Our Country, You Are the Warriors We All Hope to Emulate in Our Battles!

The theme of this day (July 4th, US independence day) fits the message of this site perfectly. There is an enemy, he prowls the earth seeking whom he may devour. That ‘may’ there is a good choice of words. He doesn’t devour just anyone, he destroys those willing to be destroyed. Not whom he ‘can’ devour but those who he ‘may’ devour.

Before the enemy came to be there is a Father/Creator that spoke us into existence. To each he gave a personality, desires, and  a purpose. And, because he knew what he was doing the three of those things mesh together to form a fierce being. A man (in our case) who is focused, brave, valiant, and effective. That was the plan anyhow.

The way things have turned out we have blindly stumbled through life without anyone to point us in the direction of that loving creator Father. We were told that the purpose of life is to be happy, or prosperous, or at the very least “to have it better than our parents had it.” Hmm, lofty. Our parents, church leaders, teachers etc. didn’t know the purpose of life and if they did then they didn’t know how to point us to it. We went to high school and cruised through, some of us went to college and wasted even more time. Then we got out and had to pay rent so we took the job that paid the bills and had to learn how to survive the politics to advance and get paid more. At some point we concluded that having a family, a house, and a car was the best we could do and started filling the holes with toys. A big TV, turned into a Theater Room, Going to a football game turned into tailgating with an RV and a margarita machine, A weekend trip to the lake turned into a boat, a ski-doo, and a lake house. Going to church turned into commitee meetings, building projects, fund raisers, choir practice, gossip,  and “where are we going to eat after the service?” All the while we watch the news and feel helpless to change the world. I wonder why we feel helpless when WE’RE NOT DOING ANYTHING TO CHANGE IT.

Going forward, here at Men On Purpose, I’m going to be looking at who we are, why we were put here, and the distractions that keep us resigned to a life of futility. I want to talk frankly about these issues, and invite you to do the same. Use words like ‘angry,’ ‘drunk,’ ‘pot,’ ‘depressed,’ ‘porn,’ ‘masturbate,’ ‘afair,’ ‘guilt,’ and ‘divorce.’ These topics touch our lives and skew our perspective, if the church hides in the closet and ignores them then no one gets helped. You can’t drive forward if your wheels are spinning in the mud.

Philippians 3: 13 Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. 14 I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. 15 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! 16 Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. 17 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. 18 There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. 19 But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites. 20 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! –The Message

For Freedom
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A wise sage once shared with me the secret to being a stress free man, he said every job requires– The Four T’s.

Every man’s got em, not every man uses em.

I don’t mean the literal appendages, I mean as in nerve, huevos, “to Cowboy Up,” pull the trigger, time to Man up, step off the cliff…

Risk is a part of life, the opposite of taking a risk is not being conservative, it is resignation. To be resigned to a life of uselessness (or “impotence”) Our language for being courageous is built around our most sensitive part. The part you want to protect at all cost. Ironically it is the pain that we try to avoid that has to be risked in order to achieve great strides.

There are two ways that courage manifests itself these days. Not all of us are faced with babies in burning buildings or going toe to toe with a bad guy at a crime scene. But, we do have choices to make about our purpose and battling for those who can’t/shouldn’t have to defend themselves.

Purpose

Are you doing what you love, what you were born to do? Or, have you resigned yourself to the lie that this is as good as it gets you might as well work like a dog and ache for the weekend to get here. Its funny, the resigned life is hard to live but easy to fall in to. And the purposeful life is hard to get into and easier to live in.

There is a parable in Matthew 25 that tells of a ruler who goes on a trip and entrusts some money to 3 of his workers. While he is away, the first invests the money and doubles it. The second does the same, the third hides the money and waits for the master to return. Here’s what the third guy says:

25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! … 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 ”Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents… 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness 

“I was afraid” he says, that’s code for, “I didn’t have the stones to take a risk” 

Battles

I was in a fast food joint not long ago when I overheard an old man berating the teenage girl behind the counter. He was an old dude but he was using his position as a customer to talk down to the girl that didn’t know about their “senior” menu. He kept on shouting at her about being overcharged for his drink. I told my wife to hand me a dollar and I went to the counter to pay the overcharge. He wouldn’t let me and turned his argument to me. Excellent. This is what I wanted to prove to her. She didn’t deserve this treatment and a stranger thought enough of her to deflect the abuse. I was then able to tell the man that he was acting inappropriately and he was shamed into not talking to the girl anymore. 

There are battles to be fought all around us. There could be tendency to make mountains out of mole hills in an effort to look like you’re fighting for truth and justice but I always weigh the situation from two sides. Justice and Grace. Some people have a keen sense of justice while others live with an acute sense of grace. If someone is abusing both at the same time, its time to step in.

I am very good at fighting for people who I don’t think can fight for themselves, I sometimes step over the line but I don’t see that as being too bad. I do however have a huge problem pulling the trigger on taking a risk. I know I’m not doing what I was put here to do and if I’d just step off the cliff I’d be rewarded but, I wait and take baby steps and hope one day God will push me off the cliff so I don’t have to make the decision. God give me strength to trust you.

If you don’t think this is a serious issue in the life of a man, try this on for size: Rev 21:8   

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

Check out who leads this list of people heading to “the second death.”

So, I guess my advice to myself is to, “grow a pair.”