Category: MASH United

As I read through the Word, there are many ways in which we are to honor God. In a nutshell, I believe that honoring our Father in heaven is an attitude of the heart. I know that statement is not a lightning flash revelation, but it is something to be considered as we husbands and fathers go about the business of being an example to our families.

One of the foremost ways that I see of honoring God is found in the heart words of Jesus, when He said that He did nothing of Himself, but everything He did was of His Father in heaven. That's quite a statement. Most of us tough, independent guys gloss over those words, never really understanding the profound impact they would have on our lives if we followed them in everything we do.

Think of the major direction shift our lives would take if we refused to do anything, I mean anything, unless we did it only after we knew that what we did was in our Father's perfect will. I am convinced that would be one of the highest honors we could give Him.

Honoring God by simply finding His heart before we move in any direction would have more impact on our lives and the lives of those around us than we could ever imagine. The understanding that we are paying Him the highest honor we can give, if waiting on Him becomes one of our highest goals, is a challenge that most of us really need to consider. Will you?

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Jim Corbett

In many years of helping people work through their problems – especially men, I have often heard the words, "I'm angry at God" because they blamed Him for something. For a long time, it never dawned on me how ridiculous that statement is. Now, when I hear those words, I think of two things in response.

First, I want to sarcastically say, "That’ll show Him!" As if we were significant enough for our opinion to matter! Just think of the audacity of anyone having the overwhelming pride to call the One True Living God to task for anything He chooses to do or anything the accuser thinks He has done. Consider the idea of a created being calling out his Creator! What a messed-up attitude and perspective!

Next, I am reminded of how far we've fallen. Think of it! The God of the universe - the Almighty God who simply spoke and all the endless regions of space were filled with His heart designs - the God Who is so magnificent that it was impossible to even look upon Him until He created Himself in bodily form. That God is the One we choose to be angry at. How low have we placed Him in our prideful hearts? How small have we made Him in our eyes? It seems that we have created a god that we think is supposed to serve us rather than serving an awesome God who has created us, in part, to serve Him. It's really time to get on our faces and repent!

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Jim Corbett

In a day when most of us men have been taught that weakness of any kind is something that needs to be avoided like the plague, there is an eternal truth that has been lost in the body of Christ. The wealth of desperately needing Jesus at every moment is so important, that without functioning in it as our life's purpose, we become weak, impotent, and incapable of exhibiting His life properly. Any reliance on ourselves, our own capabilities, or the resources of others hinders us from walking as Jesus walked on this earth, and stops us from craving the deeper, more important spiritual truths that are needed to represent Him properly and fulfill our purpose for living.

Looking to Jesus as our only source brings us into the kind of relationship the Father intended for all believers from the very beginning. Because of His mercy, that relationship was made available for all eternity through the cross and resurrection of His Son. The richness of desperate need, total reliance, and full submission to God's will and purposes - no matter what the cost - is the road map to a wealthy spiritual walk and the warm, tender, Father-to-child relationship that was meant for us all along. When we experience that kind of fellowship with our Father, we can lead our children to His lap also.

The full acceptance of our weakness is the key to receiving the deep truths from the heart of God and the path to intimacy with Him. It is the single entrance into the throne room where a warm place on His lap is reserved for us. What stops you from going there?

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Jim Corbett

As a man, I am often surprised at what we as men are generally afraid of. Even admitting that we have fears is contrary to everything that we have been told since we were little guys wandering through our growing up days. In Christ I can finally say that my early life scared the tricycle out of me.

Throughout high school, locker room bravado, with all of the cocky athletes and their macho stuff, set a standard of who we were supposed to be, and what determined our manhood. We were supposed to be tough, good in bed, and able to make everyone believe we had answers, no matter what we had to do to prove it. I don't know about you, but my high school days were days of lying to myself and to all of my buddies, mostly to just be accepted.

Now, as a Christian man, I know how foolish and downright wrong all of the world-inspired locker room training was. God is continually showing me how to shake off all of the standards set in those days and accept the boldness to act as Jesus acted. He refused to be afraid to act right in a world that was wrong.

As husbands and fathers, isn't it long overdue for us to refuse to be afraid to be the men that Jesus calls us to be? Isn't it time to not be afraid to love our wives and children as He loved His church? Are we not supposed to lay down our fears of being considered less than macho if we serve them as one of our priorities?

If we refuse to live under the world-inspired dictates, we are free. If we can be small enough to admit to being wrong and in need of going to God for answers in front of our wives, we are showing her that she is under the protection of God who is far stronger than we are. If we are free to have no answers for our children, they will see that it is important to drop to our knees for answers; something they will need to do in their lives.

Men, it's time to refuse to be anything less than Jesus calls us to be. What do you say that we live lives that inspire others to be set apart from the world by refusing to be afraid of anything it offers? Jesus did and He has given us the power to do the same. Do you want to be fearless?

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Jim Corbett

I wonder how many of us have had the privilege of simple quiet times with our fathers. I don't mean times when we had nothing to say to them because of heart separation; I am talking of intimate moments where nothing need be said, and it was OK.

As husbands and fathers, how are we expected to pass on what we haven't experienced ourselves? I think that there is a way. I think that maybe one of the reasons our Father in heaven calls us to Himself is to show us how to endear our wives and children to us. I know that may sound a little simplistic, but what if one of the reasons He calls us to Himself is that He intends for us to experience the wondrous peace found in just being with Him? What if, because of those experiences, we begin to find ways to create those same kinds of experiences with those we love?

What comes to mind as I observe wives who have looked to other things for satisfaction, or children that have turned to their peers and the world for acceptance, is that they are screaming out loud by their actions for someone to tell them of their value. Lifetimes are spent looking for someone, anyone, to somehow tell them of their worth. If you look at the phenomenon of cell phones, they are a point of contact that is desperately needed to fill some gap.

Dads, what if you determined to first of all learn how to rest in the quiet acceptance of your heavenly Father, and then passed that kind of privilege on to those who need you to tell them of their worth? What if restoring your family relationships could begin with the simple action of making sure that you are always available to those who need you to show them that they are worth being with? If you've never experienced that kind of acceptance, go get it from your Father, and pass it on by teaching them to go to Him because of being familiar with coming to you. Those who need Him are waiting for you to show them who He is by your actions. Are you willing and ready to go there?

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Jim Corbett