Now I don't want to get off on a rant here...

Men Hotly Pursuing Women

A female friend of mine has remarked that she would like to see a new ministry for men in the church and I have offered the above name for this new ministry. I'll try not to think about the new Google hits I'll get from this post and I'm sure you are wondering why on earth this is needed? Anyone who has been to Baja Beach Club or Dead Freddies on ladies night would be surprised to know that men don't always hotly pursue women.

Men are often times struggling to take leadership roles in the church, in relationships and in the world. Is this because of fear? cultural pressures? something else? We fear taking leadership roles because that means responsibility and with responsibility comes the desire to succeed and if we fail to live up to our responsibility than we can't succeed. But, if we don't take the responsibility in the first place then we don't need to worry about success or failure. Our culture puts a lot of pressure on men to not only be successful, but to do so in a way that shows our inferiority to women. As men then, we begin to take on that lazy persona immobilized by our fears and living up to a perceived cultural norm.

Ultimately, we have forgotten how to be Gentle Men. I separate these two words because I think they show the balance of what God intended for his creature - man. Scripture teaches us that we are to be humble, loving and kind or to be gentle. But it also teaches us that we are to be wise, bold and leaders or to be men. So to be gentlemen we must embody the work of Christ as he was both sacrificially loving and the king of kings.

Good Charlotte's new album has a song called Break Her Heart. Part of the chorus says, "Don't tell her she is the reason that you live/Don't give her everything that you got to give/If you want to keep a girl for as long as you live/Just break apart her heart." With the pervasiveness of culture we can be easily confused and distracted from our calling to be Gentle Men.

But searching for happiness and hanging our hopes on answers that distract us from our relationship with Christ are not gender specific issues. Man’s hot pursuit of woman with a biblical focus is simply the fruit of men hotly pursuing Christ. How hotly are you (man or woman) pursuing your relationship with your Lord and Savior?

Posted by price at June 25, 2007 11:11 AM | TrackBack