Posts Tagged masculinity
The Purpose of Suffering
Posted by mark clayton in ATG Blog on September 24th, 2011
If you’re at all like me, then you enjoy comfort food, owning a car, a home, and coastal living. Access to modern technology in all of its applications and permutations. Advanced medical diagnostics, treatment, and care. As men, we are blessed beyond measure to be living among family and friends in relative ease and comfort on one of the most beautiful stretches of the California coastline. God has provided all of these things for us to enjoy, and enjoy them we should, for they are from His hand.
If I allow it to, however, this comfort in which I live insulates me from the reality of pain and suffering in the world, in the lives of those around me, and in my own life. Everything about our modern society revolves around minimizing and eliminating need, pain, discomfort, anything that challenges our sense of well being. Moreover, our cultural dictates drive us to maintain a safe, predictable lifestyle and avoid, as much as possible, hardship and suffering. Snuggled up in our warm, cozy lives, we can easily, and willingly, miss the amazing opportunity to surrender to our King by sharing in something Christ and the apostles regularly experienced: pain, hardship, and suffering.
Along with yielding to Christ comes the invitation, the command, to share in His sufferings. I struggle desperately with this concept because it is so contrary to modern life, but crucial to the Christian life. As Paul writes:
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear I still have.” (Philippians 1:29, 30)
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted….” (2 Timothy 3:12)
“But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:20, 21)
The fact is, brothers, that, while suffering is a difficult reality to accept, it is absolutely necessary to our becoming more Christ-like, more sanctified, over time. As I look back over the course of my life to this point, I am dumbfounded by the hardship and pain God graciously allowed me to endure for the sole purpose of refining me, thereby fashioning me ever more closely into the image of His Son. I expect that some measure of the same is true in your lives, too.
What is the point, then, of pain, suffering, and hardship? It drives us to God, to the foot of the cross. It keeps us focused on doing His will instead of our own, fighting the good fight of faith for His glory. It strips away all the things we would hold onto in our own strength, keeping us totally reliant on our Savior. And, it
promises us this:
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James
1:2-4; 12)
If we would TOTALLY SURRENDER to Him, we must maintain a godly perspective on hardship and suffering, for in doing so we prepare ourselves for the difficulties we are certain to face.
W.A.I.T.
Posted by aaron leighton in ATG Blog, Events on September 6th, 2011
Jesus had just finished “slipping away from the temple grounds,” making an interesting, evasive move as the Jews were gathering stones. One verse later in John 9:1, having just come from the temple arguing with the Jewish leaders, we find Jesus, with razor-sharp focus, right back at his mission. This is when he finds the man blind from birth. He spits in the dirt, putting the resulting “mud” on the man’s eyes and tells him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. When the man does as told, he is healed.
Allow me to back up in that story. I don’t know about you, but if I had just finished a massive argument with a bunch of hypocritical, religious tyrants ending with intent to kill me, the first thing on my mind would not be to strike up conversation with a total stranger about the healing power of God. Yet this is exactly
what Jesus did. He remained true to His mission, keeping perfect perspective, never missing an opportunity.
So why do we so easily get distracted and sidetracked, wandering away from the place we know God wants us? Asking myself this question, I realize I get wrapped up in everyday junk. Too often I find I’ve been simmering all day (or longer) in unprocessed irritation, unable to quickly put my finger on the source. Fact is I’ve let too much time pass without identifying and dealing with my anger. Often the result is taking my frustration out on someone that had nothing to do with it. I can tell you I’m guilty of coming home and snapping at my wife or being disengaged with my kids, when it was something from work—unidentified—I brought through the door to my home like a Trojan horse.
This got me thinking about what practical step I could take. Something simple. Maybe a checkpoint question I could ask myself to quickly identify issues and avoid sinking into yet another disconnected spell. So I came up with “WAIT” for “Why am I tense?” The idea is this: As soon as I am hit with something that is upsetting, take a brief moment, ask myself this question, and identify the source.
This year’s ATG theme is “Total Surrender,” and as I continue to give Christ full access to my heart, striving for 100% surrender, He is always faithful in uncovering new places for me to give to Him. This is just one area God’s working on in me—perhaps you are able to relate. I encourage you as you go about your day to keep vigilant to the ways the Enemy can distract you from your mission.
As Seasons Change
Posted by lance tullis in ATG Blog on April 21st, 2010
Life is moving like a storm toward summer. It’s still very much like winter in the mountains, but change is coming. I just got back from a great mountain bike ride in the hills above the San Joaquin River. Had some good solo-time with God. All I could think about was how life changes. One minute we’re pushing toward our dreams in life: marriage, business, personal goals, or fatherhood. The next minute those dreams can get shattered.
I’ve learned to use the opportunity of a lost dream to follow a new one. The Christian life isn’t about getting stuck in past regrets and failures. Sure we learn what we can from them, but there comes a time to move forward.
Maybe that time has come for some of you guys. It might mean letting go of a business, relationship, or pursuit of something. It’s OK to let go sometimes. When our focus is on the past, we can’t see the opportunities that are right before us today.
Let God into that past failure or regret, heal you from it, and prepare you for His best. We’re moving into Spring now. Look around. The hills are green. Lakes are filling up, and new life all around us. Some of us have had hard winters in life, but I assure good things are to come.
As the seasons change, may God open that masculine heart of yours to become a man alive to His intent for your life. Heaven knows that now is a time for masculine strength like never before. Remember, you’re a man, and as the great Zig Ziggler says, “Falure is an event, not a person.”
Keep up the fight men,
Lance Tullis