Where Are All The Godly Men? - Growing Into A Godly Man

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." 

Proverbs 16:25

Our oldest grandson will turn eighteen this year and leave home for college. He will enter into the beginnings of a man's world. When he was young, I always tried to relate to him that he was a "good kid" When he became a teenager, I began to refer to him as a fine "young man", hoping to instill in him the role in which God was leading him.  He  had some very difficult hardships in his life as a "good kid", but he has faced those challenges with a maturity of a fine young man.

Now he is to step into a man's world, It is a world where 40% of Christian men leave  home and some good kids behind. It is a world where men are constantly in a battle against the forces of evil that Satan disguises to appear pleasing and desirable. We live in a wonderful world that God intended for total pleasure, but it is a fallen world. It is a world that can destroy many a good man.

But God, through Jesus, offers us an escape into His world, a world of peace, joy, contentment, power over evil, and power to do good. The world of Jesus is the answer to every man's problems. It heals broken homes and hearts, it overcomes addictions, it brings true purpose and significance to a man's life. To enter into this world, a man has to make the decision to enter. He does this first by acknowledging and believing in Jesus as his Saviour. But it is more than this, it is to give control of our lives over to Jesus in our will, our desires, and our ultimate reason for existing. It is to understand that we are a fallen, sinful man and our only hope must come from the fact that Jesus paid the penalty by giving His life for our sin.

In Philippians 3:7-11, the apostle Paul talks about how everything that was once profit or of high priority to his life has now become worthless. Instead, he has developed a deep passion which he describes as a passion to know about God, to know Him intimately enough to be like Him, and to be so devoted to Him as to experience His sufferings and the power of His resurrection. Do we know men like this today who are willing to forsake all, to dig deep into His word and spend hours just to get to know Him. And once we know Him, are we willing to experience the kind of sufferings He did. There is nothing more powerful or miraculous than to be raised from the dead. But, that is the kind of power Paul was seeking and Jesus offers to all who follow Him.

To follow Jesus is to constantly seek Him first and His righteousness in all areas of our life(Matthew 6: 33). He becomes our Saviour and our Lord. He is our guide in every thing we do. We seek Him in every circumstance we encounter. As we seek Him, we begin to see Him. Scripture tells us we should seek His face and as we gaze upon the glory and pure love of His face, we cannot help but fall face down before Him in humble submission of all we are and have. We submit our lives, our business, our families - we surrender all. Our prayer is that Jesus would be the Lord of all. When He is, we then are willing to stand with Him in the arena of this world. We come out of our closet, we are different, we are separate from this world. We take a stand against the pollution of this world. We are MEN OF GOD.