Orig: 12/19/02
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
Years ago I shared Christ with a man whom I deeply love. He politely listened as I “preached” to him but when I asked him what he thought his answer saddened me. “Bro, you know my mom was sick when she was pregnant with me and that I was supposed to be born handicapped, but through my grand parents prayers I was born normal. I wake up every day and realize I am a miracle and I agree with everything you say, BUT I don’t want to stop living my life.”
Sadly, he continued to inform me that he was afraid following Jesus would somehow, would make him less of a man.
He had swallowed one of Satan’s lies hook, line and sinker..
The man who told me this is an egg shell of the miracle God created him to be. We are talking man to man hear so let me cut out the BS and shoot straight. From personal experience and the Word of God I will die for the fact that God makes a man more of a man than he ever could have been without him. How can a man live apart from Christ and still reach the potential for which God has designed him? How can he ever fully understand and embrace God’s mission for his life if he rejects the God who made the mold that formed him.
NEVER! A man will never reach his full capability without ruthless devotion to Jesus. It simply is not biblical, nor is it possible.
What is possible for God is to take 40 year old boys and transform them before the eyes of those who do not know, understand, or follow Jesus so that, “when they saw the courage of (Your names) and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
Astonished!
God turns boys into men and makes a man more of a man than he would have ever been without Him.
Strip your faith naked and leave it in the locker room for all to see. What is left? What is the naked truth about your faith (Hebrews 4:12)? Jesus gave us the answer in Matthew 6:33 when he said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
“All these things” especially includes your manhood.
A man may be changed over time but time alone does not change the man. Manhood is much more than a chronology of events. Time is not a change agent. The great hunt for God is. Being with Jesus must be a man’s most passionate pursuit. Yesterday I heard a disc jockey for KLOVE say of singer-song writer Todd Agnew, "His pursuit of God is relentless.” Would that others might say that about us! When all else fails, the dust settles, and the smoke clears all that really matters is how hard a man ran after his God.
Nothing is more vital to our faith than running after the steps of Jesus (Galatians 5:25). Our spiritual growth is in direct proportion to the time we invest in being with our Lord. Peter and John “had been with Jesus”. They knew that the ministry of being was greater “by far” (Philippians 1:23) than the ministry of doing (Acts 6: 2). These uneducated men held their own with the best of the best theologians because they had held onto Jesus.
Christian courage, the courage that possesses eternal worth, is simply the fruit of being with the Master.
When people see you do they recognize that you too have “been with Jesus”?
