Tag: men

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

As the world grows darker, and men and women seek out answers for their lives that are out of whack, I am amazed at how many of them are reeling from fathers who had little or no ability to parent. The world is looking to its own wisdom as to why we have horrific things done by youth, or why marriages are thrown away at a whim, or why our cities are festering with hate and crime. For them there are no answers.

In God's economy, however, the answer is very simple. Satan understands the incredible detriment a strong family, headed by a man who seeks the Lord, is to his kingdom. He does everything in his power to destroy it. Generations upon generations have been blinded to the importance and power of a God-honoring father and a Christ-centered family. This erosion has brought our world to the point that the family, God's most important institution, is guided and controlled by peer groups, experts trained in the ways of the world, and governments who make life decisions for us instead of Him.

How is your family doing? As a husband and father, are you leading those God has given you to a place of spiritual power, the kind of power that is overcoming the world and its pressures? Do you have a strong relationship with your heavenly Father, and does your guidance come from Him? Have you determined in your heart that as a steward of your wife and children, you will do what is necessary by the power of the Holy Spirit to see that they have real answers for their lives and are equipped to represent Christ to a world that is out of answers? If not, what do you plan to say to the Lord when you stand before Him and have to give an account for those He has given you?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett