They said (to the Jailer), “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ~Acts 16: 31-33
When I met him, he was a seventeen-year-old kid in trouble with the law. Raised in a Christian home, he chose to rebel instead. He was really good at it. He married out of high school, and the troubled marriage to his high school sweetheart ended in divorce a few short years later. His life epitomized the Prodigal Son story in Luke 15, but in his lowest moment, he remembered the God of his parents and recommitted his life to Jesus.
Like a backpacker on a steep climb, he made his way back to Jesus—slow and steady. His Men in the Arena group encouraged him, but he dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. A couple years later another Men in the Arena team invited him in and his faith began to soar. His faith grew, as did his business, marriage, and everything around him.
He baptized his children, became a recognized spiritual leader, and launched his own Men in the Arena team. That team included his brother and one of my sons as well!
When a man gets it—everyone wins!
Three out of the four times in the book of Acts when households were saved, the patriarch’s newfound faith was catalytic. Nine out of the ten most influential people (according to a Google search) in church history are men. Jack Hayford rightly stated, “In most of His workings throughout history and Scripture, God starts with men. Get that? Men are God’s starting place. The shaping of a man is foundational to anything God sets out to do.”
It’s objectively undeniable in the Bible and Church history, almost every time God starts a history-making, Kingdom-building movement He starts with men. Men are God’s starting place. The heavy-weight of reaching the world for Jesus starts with men.
When you reach one man you don’t just reach one. You reach everyone that man loves. When you reach one man you reach five more. You may reach five dozen more. The potential influence for Jesus is limitless! We are tougher to reach but it’s a ratio well worth the time and effort—reach one man and reach their world.
But tragically men are the cause of 80-90 percent of the world’s pain and suffering. Men are the problem. If men are indeed the problem, the logical conclusion, then, is that men are also the solution. This truth demands the full attention of churches, church leaders, and society in general.
Reach men and reach the world.
It demands your full attention as well. Do you get it? Are those around you growing, thriving, and enjoying the fruits of a man who gets it? You are the solution. The heavy weight of your family and marriage rests on your shoulders, my friend. But be encouraged. God has given you shoulders broad enough, and strong enough, to bear the very burden you were made for.
