Wednesday, July 3, 2019

A Christian Man Protects


There’s a difference between a man and a male. A Christian man, a man that is fulfilled in his calling from the Lord, will intentionally make an effort to address three key responsibilities: A Christian man will protect; A Christian man will lead; and a Christian man will serve. For today, let us focus just on the first of the three: A Christian man protects. 

Picking back up where we left off last week, men no longer need to be shackled by the debilitating fear of inadequacy since we are now adopted into the family of Christ. Too long have some men lived in a world that shamed them, pessimistically predicted their downfall, or expected their continual failure in all areas of life (especially spiritual matters). And just as Adam was called to be responsible for his household, we men are called to protect and be responsible for those placed in our care. Whether married or single, children or no children, men are called by the Lord to protect and be examples of Jesus Christ who cares for His sheep. 

Due to Adam’s spiritual lapse, the evil one tempts us men to shy away from this calling. We bury ourselves in work, in a sinful behavior, or maybe even in laziness. When our families ask us for help on critical matters, we habitually make excuses and always have some reason not to show. When our wives ask us for help with the kids, our day-job gets first dibs on our calendar instead. Date night with our spouse slips to the back burner since our weekly social club or baseball league with the boys seems to be more exhilarating.

Men are responsible for their garden. In other words, if Satan tries to get into the garden, it is the man’s responsibility to protect the garden and keep him out. If a boss hires you and places you over a station at your job and if you abandon that post in the middle of a shift, the whole entire workforce backs up or shuts down. It would take a large shift and reallocation of resources to get everything back up and running again to cover for your abandonment. As a result of the fall, we see the act of Adam abandoning his post leading to Satan having dominion over the realm. If you are not spiritually protecting your wife or those placed in your care, your world and those around you within your world will be impacted. The degree to which you refrain from spiritually protecting those placed in your care will correlate to the amount of hurt and/or sin that will occur due to your negligence. 
It’s essential to come to terms with the thought that if you don’t protect the people placed in your care, then who will? Will we men still make mistakes? Without a doubt. Will we men let some people down? Come on, we’re not Jesus here (Only He could make such a promise to never let anyone down, ever). But the difference here is that by living and striving toward the standards put in place by Christ, we will always have a perfect example to live off of and the very best person to uplift us, encourage us, inspire us, and love us unconditionally in a manner that motivates us to persevere and answer the call to protect our loved ones.






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