Earlier this week I was scrolling through my news feed when I stumbled across an Odyssey article entitled Christian Boys vs. Godly Men. Obviously this article was written for all the ladies, but due to my insatiable curiosity I decided to give it a read. The article itself I thought was phenomenal, but as I pointed out earlier it was written for the ladies. So I decided to write this in hopes that this message might reach the other side of the coin. So this article is for the guys, if you are girl and you are reading this that’s awesome I hope you enjoy it.
So what does it take to be a Man of God? The path of faith is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those of exceptional ability, anyone can walk that path, but as men we must avoid remaining in our spiritual childhood. 1st Peter 2:2 says “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation”. When we are born to a life of faith we become a new creation, we are babies that crave spiritual milk, but like all children we aren’t meant to live only by spiritual milk, eventually we must wean ourselves off of it. A.W. Tozer once said “The difference between a man of God and a child is a matter of Milk vs. Meat. Men eat meat, like a great predator we do not sit and wait to be fed we go out and claim our spiritual nourishment”. A Man of God hunts and provides. I know that’s a risky thing to say in the 21st century (that men need to provide), but in order to be a man of God you must be able to provide for yourself and for the woman you care about. Like the Odyssey article said Godly men must lead their significant other closer to Christ each day and help her grow in her faith as well as his own.
A true man of God is a man who encourages, not just for his girlfriend to go to church, but to spend time together in the word and to pray together. He shares his struggles with her and gives her his strength when she shares her struggles with him, to grow both in understanding faith and peace. So gentleman here it is. Quit thinking you can get away with the bare minimum, quit thinking your church attendance makes you a Man of God. Instead ask yourself one question. Do I have enough faith for the both of us? Now don’t get a big head, a true woman of faith doesn’t need a Man of God to grow spiritually, but if she’s not growing in Christ at a greater rate with you than she was without you than guess what, what you have to offer isn’t enough. You might as well be holding her back then helping her move forward.
A true Man of God isn’t into Idolatry he doesn’t let anything in life become more important to him than his relationship with Jesus Christ HIS Lord and Savior. When Cyrus the Great the King of Persia declared that no one in his kingdom could pray to any god for a whole month, Daniel the exiled Jew didn’t miss a beat. His faith was so great that he risked death just to pray to God. If you think you are a man of God ask yourself this. Is God your absolute top priority or is he just jumbled up within your top five.
Most importantly one thing that wasn’t touched on in the Odyssey article and I think is the most important thing of all is fatherhood. No one should be dating for the fun of it, when you date, and this one is for the ladies, you should be looking for a husband, and depending on your preferences the future father of your children. A father is a man who leads his children in faith and devotion straight to the throne of God. This is the man who will be the first person your children will look to for answers and for guidance. So here’s where I get serious. If you can’t help your significant other who is already a strong and faithful disciple of Christ, how can you be expected to do the same for your children? The answer is you can’t!
So for all the ladies reading this take note of the man you are interested in and ask yourself is this a Man of God, or just another Christian boy? And Gentleman my advice for you is if you haven’t done it already, you need to get our act together. It’s time to stop putting in as little effort as possible towards your relationship with God, the women of this generation are as smart as they come and they are done messing around with boys. So stop drinking that spiritual milk and go get some meat it’s time for you to become a MAN!
