It Takes God to Grow A Man

 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1Co 16:13  

Watch Ye

Behaving like a man every day is not easy. There are days when it can feel like a cruel joke. Days when it feels like it's over. Days when the soil starts to drift back to the ocean.

 And it is exactly in such moments that the believer is called to be on guard, to watch ye.

It is an encouragement. It is an exhortation.

Watch ye. Take care. Consider.

It is not a call to overthink. Or to worry.

It is a call to cast your cares upon God.

For we cannot be a man (or woman) after God’s heart without him.

 Christ said “Without me ye can do nothing.”

And every day, every morning, and every evening we are invited to be a witness to that truth.

It may be in a faint sigh, or a joint growing stiff, or the silence darkening the room.

 But the amazing thing is that God always proves himself faithful in the end.

Always.

Watch Ye

It is a cooperation.

He gives the word and we act on it.

Watch.

Look.

Remember.

Because the devil prowls about waiting to devour.

To devour means to tear. It is a merciless attack.

And the devil is doing that every day.

He wrests, he twists, he accuses.

Resist him.

But how do we resist a spirit?

He is your enemy.

Call him out.

Remind him who you are, where you are, and how you are.

You are the son and daughter of a living God.

Rejoice always. Count it all joy, wherever, and however you are.

Resist being dragged into despair. Cast out the melancholy face. Overwhelm him with your praises for your God.

Watch Ye

Watch out for distractions.

The devil will distract you.

The world will distract you.

Your own flesh will distract you.

Be circumspect.

Because you are sanctified.

Chosen.

Set apart.

Called to be a saint.

Travel light. Take a walk in eternity.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Heb 12:1-3  

Stand fast in the faith

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1Co 15:58  

Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Col 2:6  

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister. Col 1:23

  

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Eph 4:14  

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Eph 4:17  

Quit you like a man

Yes you are a man.

You are also a child of God.

A man.

But a child.

It is in that synthesis that he makes us men and women after himself.

Be strong.

Be courageous.

Be strong and of a good courage. Jos 1:6 

Only be thou strong and very courageous. Jos 1:7 

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Isa 40:29  

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isa 41:10  

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. 2Co 4:7-9 

Pain will happen. Let it not distract you.

Suffering is a must on this side of heaven.

That is not strange.

Rather rejoice.

You are not hated but loved.

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? Heb 12:5-9

Now drown that pain with praise!

Watch ye.

Stand fast.

Quit yourself like a man.

Be strong.

 

The Problem of Shame

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God…

And hope maketh not ashamed. Rom 5:1-5  

Shame is a Condemnation

The answer of shame for the believer rests in the above verses. In the previous chapter of Romans 7 Paul speaks volubly of the indwelling nature of sin.

I know good.

I want to do good.

But a lot of times I fail in my effort to be good.

And part of the reaction I feel is shame.

True there is a time when shame is deserved, and there’s a time when it is misplaced.

Sin and Shame

Shame in its depth is a work of sin.

It is the condemning voice of the devil.

Sin distorts the mind.

Sin is wont to exaggerate things.

Sin shifts the blame.

In Adam I can detect the early awakening of shame. He had loved God, and he had failed God. Sin gives birth to shame. We are left naked. And only the skin of God can cover our sin. A son of God has no shame. There is no shame or fear in love.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 

Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Psa 32:1-2  

Shame and Pride

Shame may be the work of pride.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

It can be a refusal to believe God.

It can be the sin of limiting God.

It is when I feel the urge to measure things by my own standard and not that of God.

It can be born of the temptation to be over righteous. When a man feels God’s salvation work is not quite enough, but that he must add to it by, for example, extreme self-mortification.

I can convince myself that I have failed and I am completely beyond salvation. And the result is the rising millstone of shame.

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? 

Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? Ecc 7:16-17 

Other times we feel shame because we feel we did more, or we feel we did less. And the result is always a rollercoaster of warring emotions.

But God has shown us the way to overcome shame. It is in every word he has spoken. It is there in every instruction on how to combat sin.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Joh 3:17-21  

And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 

Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 1Jn 3:19-21  

Shame and Self-Loathing

I pray that I am not passing judgment here. In writing this piece I may as well have been writing about myself. Personally, there are instances when I feel like an emotional springboard. I feel shame right and left. I feel shame when I am standing up, and I feel shame when I am sitting down.

It is the evil day Paul famously spoke of in Ephesians 6. And there’s no way of winning that battle except through the taking up the whole armour of God.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Eph 6:10-13  

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Rom 8:33-34

Shame and Doubt

Shame can easily become chronic if left untreated, and that can impede the development or growth of the whole person. Shame can literally stop life. It will happen if we listen to people, if we worry about people, if we fear people, if we make lies our refuge…

True salvation must involve death. Dying to the world and dying to self. When we fail to do that we open ourselves to the relentless attacks by the devil.

When that happens remember your position in Christ. Remember God in his promises. Cheer up! You are a child of God, and you are of more value than many sparrows.