As a Follower of Christ

Let’s see, have I ever failed in this area? Of course I have. I know you have too. I am not judging you, I just know your are human and God’s word is clear that none of us are righteous . I doubt this is news to any of you but I thought I would toss it in as a reminder. We are men, we want to be in charge, we want to believe we control our own destiny. We are nothing without the Lord men; John 15:5 should be a great reference for keeping us in our place “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”(NKJV) This is Jesus speaking and during this lesson he is not simply offering chastisement. Rather, this statement comes in the midst of great encouragement and I would encourage you to go grab your Bible and read John 15. Some folks like to stop at this point and just focus on the fact that we are nothing without Him. This is true and should remain in your heart at all times on order for us to wear our spirit of humility. I was recently encouraged by a fellow brother in Christ who pointed out that the next step should be for me to also remember that “I can do all things through Him that strengthens me. ” As long as I seek only to bring glory to the Lord, not myself, then nothing can stop Him working through me to accomplish His goals. I have been tempted to view that verse in the past as some sort of all-consuming "name it and claim it" theology. This fed my delusion that I am somehow self sufficient moving me away from a position of humility. I can do all things through Him IF He desires and IF whatever I am doing brings glory and honor to His kingdom. The goal is for me to stop idolizing the things of this world, that glorify me, and focus on my relationship with Christ. When I am doing this, my desires will line up with the plans God has for me. This gets difficult for me because I want to be in control of my life and think that I am needed more than I am. I want to feel important, like my ideas matter, and sometimes I want to think God needs me. Newsflash, Holy God has no need for Slade Griffin ever. I believe that now and still had trouble typing that sentence. I was watching a video where Mark Hall, Casting Crowns, was giving his testimony. Talk about humble, at one point he said he realized that God was telling him " Mark, I don't need you. I want you." That was pretty powerful. For years I would pray to be used or pray for what I wanted, even though sometimes they were good wants, and just sit and wonder why things were happening the way they were. I realized there were two major things interfering. The first issue was all the sin I had been hiding. Obviously the fact that I willfully chose to sin continually hindered my prayer. My Holy Father had no interest in "rewarding" that type of behavior. While this is something very obvious, it was something I could not figure out while my sin had such a death grip on my life. Sometimes I am really slow, other times just a little. The second issue was how I was praying. I have been familiar with the A.C.T.S. principle for awhile. If you aren't familiar this is Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. If you are new to prayer or believe any prayer is equal, the correct way to pray is called out in Matthew 6: 9-15 when Jesus provides this instruction. If you want the full context of Jesus' instruction just back up to verse 5. It wasn't that I didn't follow these models, it was that I requested action where maybe none was required. For example I would ask the Lord to use me in music or use me for some other ministry I enjoyed. On the surface there is nothing wrong with this and I am not offering correction to anyone praying this way. I learned that God wanted me to wait on him and he didn't need me to "do" anything. I began instead to pray that I would be the man God wants me to be. If that means I sit in my cubicle all day living out Colossians 3:23, so be it. I will seek Him daily and serve Him continually in everything. So men, as followers of Christ what are we supposed to be? I don't have the answers, but I know where to find them. The answer to any challenge, trial, issue, or problem is addressed in God's word.
The world would like us to believe that His word no longer applies to certain things and that things are different now. God is some sort of Grandfatherly figure that just wants to say everything's okay, sin doesn't matter, and do whatever you want. Sadly this attitude of popular culture has invaded our lives and, in some cases, our churches. I feel fortunate that I have always had a pastor that was solid and preached from the Bible and stood against the notion that the God's word was less than sufficient. On the other side of that spectrum I had very few Christian men that were willing to confront me when I clearly showed that I was not living as God intended. I am not talking about the people who didn't know either and what's, possibly, worse I understood why they wouldn't. For example, I had deceived myself enough that I believed a divorce would be justifiable. During my time of unemployment I read several books while I was learning to focus on God, lean only on Him, and look only to Him. One of those books was "So, You Want To Be Like Christ?" by Charles Swindoll. The book is excellent and very easy to read. He makes several points that applied to either myself directly or experiences I have had. I took 8 pages of handwritten notes while reading that book. Here are some of the things that really hit home with me:

"The message of Christianity is quickly becoming a system of enlightened thinking instead of a simple call to turn from sin and pursue a relationship with God."

"Are activities outside my home stealing time from those within the home?"

"..Becoming more like Christ) Begins with a decision to reorder our live according to a different set of priorities."

"Compare yourself to Christ: Jesus lived his entire life misunderstood, misrepresented, misquoted, mistreated and finally crucified. HE COMMITTED NO SIN."

You may well be affected by these also, or perhaps other points in the book. I recommend this book as at least a way to develop some general understanding of what it means when we say we want to be like Christ as Christian men. As always, the Bible should be your primary source.

Today, I attempt to start each day with a devotional where I journal how I believe I should apply the lesson that day. Meeting God in His word in the morning starts the day well and I regret the days where I forget or it slips away from me. As a continued part of my walk with the Lord I boldly share this story in the hopes that other men will be helped or challenged and that God would receive Glory. Following the Lord in every moment has also led me to be more compassionate towards others and has made forgiveness something I can actually do now. During my periods of ignoring God, not leaning on Him and not Seeking Him I would hold a grudge for long periods of time. Since "long period" is somewhat relative I will share a couple of examples and let you scale the description of length appropriately.
When I was 12 years old I was adopted by the man my mother had remarried to after 3 years of being divorced. Following the court proceedings, and the subsequent discussions that accompany them, I decided that my biological father had done something to greatly offend me. I won't share the details but I did not speak to him again for 17 years. During that time I was encouraged by my parents to maintain some form of communication but my stubbornness and hard heart would not allow it.
When I was 24 years old, my adopted father and my mother divorced. At some point I became just as offended by this man, who had poured his life into me for years, as I had my biological father. So there I was, broken relationships with 2 men that I know sincerely tried their best to be the right type of leader for me.
After 17 years I thought I would "give him another chance" and see how things went with my biological father. God deeply blessed that day and the richness and reward of that relationship being reconciled is ongoing as I continue to have fellowship and time with my brothers and sisters from that side of the family. I clearly see now it was not anything good in me that led to that moment when we met after 17 years of separation, I was 29 years old.
After 9 years I was at my sister's wedding and my grandmother came up to me and said "you go over there and tell your Dad you forgive him." She was referring to my adopted father and I said "yes ma'am", that's what you do when Gran tell you something, and I walked over and apologized to my Dad for what I had done. I don't know exactly how he felt but I know that it freed me and that we continue to have good interactions today, I was 34 years old.
What I am striving to make changes, I am slow to change and wounds from what I have done to others in the past heal slowly. Fortunately, Jesus' blood covers sin and God is sovereign. My goal as a follower of Christ is simple:

Father God help me today to follow you and to be a good husband to my wife and father to my children. Father lead me as I lead them correcting me, strengthening me, and encouraging me with your Holy Word. Help me to do my job well and not for any glory and recognition to me but for the glory of your kingdom alone.