Men Weigh In!! We asked, "What does it mean or entail to you, to be a man of God?"

Round 2 of our newest MONTHLY feature: 
"Men Weigh In"

The men have spoken (again) - and I believe you will be blessed by their responses (again). *smile* I know I have been! God never ceases to amaze me. The guys that will be weighing in here (and right now there are four of them) are men that I know personally. Men that I have seen walking in Christ - sincerely - for years. Men who not only, talk the talk, but walk the walk - to the BEST of their abilities. They love Christ with all of their hearts, and I value and appreciate their input. These are our brothers in Christ. We are here to grow and evolve; they are doing the same. We will all surely be mutually blessed by the contributions they make and the conversation it provokes. I thought it best that they remain anonymous, so that they could share their responses freely and be completely transparent. So I had to come up with some "aliases" for these guys!! ;-) This way, as we hear from them each month you will be able to recognize which contributor it is you are hearing from. I asked them each to tell me their favorite book of the Bible - and this is how I came up with their SE names. ;-) So we have Brother Proverbs, Brother Ecclesiastes, and Brother Job.

I'm sure we all know men and women can look at something and see things COMPLETELY different. Or maybe that's just my experience... but I doubt it! Lol. With that being said, prayerfully, we will all be blessed, challenged, and encouraged to grow by exchanging perspectives and thought-provoking dialogue with the opposite sex.
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We asked: "What does it mean or entail to you, to be a man of God?" What are your roles and what do you consider to be your responsibilities in these roles?

They answered: 

Brother Ecclesiastes, 30: 

"Man of God”, to me, means to follow God in every way, and obey His commands with joy. It's a man who does not live for the things of this life, but for the things of eternity. It's a man who willingly serves his God in giving freely of all his resources yet gladly suffers as a consequence of his faith. Micah 6:8 sums up the man of God in one verse: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” A man of God doesn’t gossip or slander; he keeps his mind and heart pure by guarding his eyes and ears from the filth of the world (yet this can be difficult); he is the spiritual leader of his family. He does everything opposite to what the world does or approves of; he goes "against the grain" of society because he knows those things displease God; he considers those who are "disadvantaged" or those rejected by society, those that are lonely or despairing; he is a listener to other people’s problems and does not judge. The man of God knows that his new nature is that of the righteousness of Christ which was exchanged for our sinful nature at the cross.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

"...and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. " Philippians 3:9

The final result is that he walks humbly with his God, knowing that he must rely solely upon Him to be able to live to the full and persevere to the end.

Brother Job, 32:  
The word “of” is used to indicate derivation, origin or source. So to be a man of GOD means that HE is our source or our example of how we should live. So for me I think that being a man of GOD means that you try to live your life the way that Christ lived his. By no means will we ever be able to even come close to how HE lived his life though. I don’t think that HE wants us to become GOD but be GODLY, take on his values, his attitude and character - "take on an entirely new way of life -- a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you" (Ephesians 4:22).

As a FATHER- We must provide for our families and lead in every area in the household, provide strength when need, but know when to provide sensitivity as well. We should always instil leadership in our homes with our children so that when they are out in the world they will lead in the way they have seen their father lead in the home.

As a HUSBAND- We are to provide for and protect our wives. Ephesians 5:25 says “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” I think that sums it up for husband.

As a FRIEND- As a friend I think this may be the hardest one because we can get very selfish with our friendships and treat them on conditional basis sometimes. As a friend we have to lead by example with our attitudes, and learn not to take things personal when something doesn’t go the way we assumed them to go. We tend to either cut a friendship off if we get crossed the wrong way, we wish bad things on people who hurt us, but as a friend and a man of GOD we have to learn to still love them, to still pray for them although we may not continue to be friends how we were because there are just some people who can’t go with you on your journey we still can love them and wish them well despite what may have happened with them.

Young Brother Proverbs, 21

Being a man of God, to me, means to be as close to God as possible. There are 5 things I think are key to being a true man of God:

1. Being responsible 

2. Having integrity 

3. Being firm 

4. Having leadership 

5. Being able to hear from God.

This list applies to every aspect of your life. 1. All real men of God have great responsibility. Being called by God is great responsibility enough and along with the reality of walking in his purpose and destiny makes it even greater. I believe in the man leading by his words and by example. 2. He must have integrity. To me that means having the characteristics of god. Your morals and character are built soundly off of godly principals. 3. You must be firm. When i say that, I mean there is no compromising what you believe in and what you know God has told you to do. 4. I believe a real Godly man has to know how to lead in every aspect of life, but most importantly your family, as in wife, kids, etc. It is your job to cover your household in prayer and love and security. You strive to be different. Don't follow the crowd, but follow the cloud. 5. The most important thing is to hear from God. Everybody needs wisdom and guidance and what better way to get it than directly from the source? No man is perfect but God is. And bottom line is, if you don't have God directing your life, then you are going to be lost. Now if you are leading a family without guidance from God, then not only will you be lost, but you are setting other people up (and possibly a whole generation), up for failure.

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Thank you all for your responses. To me, there is nothing like, a MAN after God's own heart. After reading these responses, it only further solidifies my belief. Just to sit and think of how AWESOME our God is... and then to think of men who are earnestly seeking Him and acknowledging Him in all their ways?? It's a beautiful thing.

The other day, my sister and I were discussing the importance role men play as fathers. We were discussing how important it is that daughters have their fathers in their lives, to show them what it is to be loved and adored by a Godly man. My sister said she believes the lack of a fatherly presence is one of the main reasons adult women settle in sub-par relationships. She proposed that if more fathers were playing active roles even in their adult daughter's lives, women would be less likely to settle for whoever comes along. (Do you agree/disagree, why?) 

I mentioned the importance of not only fathers, but male role models in general. I know having lived in Vegas, I recall seeing so many young boys who are just TOTALLY LOST. They don't have a clue as to what it means to be a man, much less a Godly man. I believe in my heart, it is because they do not have any examples of what it means to be a Godly man. They are mirrors of what they see around them... and on television. Oh television, don't get me started on that. 

So anyway, we continued talking and then somewhere in the conversation, one of us said, "I wonder what MEN would have to say in regards to what it means to be a Man of God." ... and BOOM, this month's question was born. 

I think that one of the most important responsibilities of men and women of God, is to be examples to the young (... and the old). "...but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." - 1 Timothy 4:12 

For so many people, we are ALL they have ever seen of Jesus. You may be the only page of the bible, they have ever seen or will ever see. When they see you, do they see Jesus? It's certainly something to consider. I don't think we realize just how much people are watching us and the influence (good OR bad), we can have. It doesn't take long to influence a person, one way or the other. You can touch people's lives for the better, in 5-minute exchanges. Something as simple as a smile or a kind gesture can touch a person's life. 

 “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Leo Buscaglia

Young girls need to be able to SEE women of God, living their lives in a Godly fashion, day in and day out. They need to see the way you dress, the way you handle challenging situations, the way you handle yourself with men/dating/etc, your etiquette, your concern for the well-being of others, the way you speak, the respect you have for yourself and others, and the list goes on and on... We are called to be different. That's what gets the attention of others. We should stand out. When they look at us, they should see Him. We can't expect to win souls for Christ if we are out doing and saying the same things as everyone else. If God hasn't changed our lives, than how should they expect Him to change theirs?

Please take a moment and watch this brief clip from a movie called - Take the Lead... 

(Please excuse the profanity, I apologize in advance, but in it's context I think the video is worth sharing, as it shows a powerful point. Pay attention to what the boy does, at the end of the clip) 

We need to TAKE THE LEAD, and lead by example!

What are YOUR thoughts??

On this video - on the responses our brothers shared - on my thoughts...

We want to hear from you.