#thereismoretoit

The name is David Sanchez and I am just your average, everyday Christian man. I spend time with my girlfriend, fanboy over Star Wars, hangout with my friends, and more often than not, I sin. I have and still do struggle with many things in my life such as lust, selfishness, greed, and not taking others into account. Many of these sins still tempt me to this day. Becoming a man—or rather, a man of God—has not been an easy road and nor should it. The path of righteousness was never intended to be comfortable and pleasant. We should, however, rejoice in the knowledge that we were never meant to take this journey alone. In his letter the the Philippians, Paul exclaims, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). Why wouldn’t we want to rejoice when all God wants for us is a joy-filled life?

Through God’s unfailing mercy, grace, and His unfailing love He has made the burden light. Now you may be thinking, I thought you just said it was not an easy task to get to God? And you would be right, but because God is sovereign and He loves us, He has put other men and women in our lives to help push us along. The community of God’s believers is a powerful thing and one that can help us in our most desperate hour. God can come in the most unlikely of places and people. This thought is compounded by the way the members of the early church acted with one another: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). So how does this fit in with being a man of God?

One of the first steps in becoming a Man [of God], is overcoming the need to rely solely on the self. I know that society tells you that you need to do everything yourself and fix all the problems of the world alone, but the reality is, life and its problems aren’t meant for you to bear alone. Look, I’ll be honest with you here. I still struggle with placing my trust and my problems in God’s hands, but ultimately I know that nothing is possible without His intervention. Psalms is a good reference for looking to God as a solid, and unyielding sanctuary in our lives: “But the LORD has been my stronghold, And my God the rock of my refuge” (Psalms 94:22). It’s scary, I will be the first to admit, but the sooner you drill that into your head the better off you’ll be and the more joyful your life will become. The world promises a lot of things that are, more often that not, empty promises.

Money, Popularity, Women, Power, all of these things—while not inherently evil—have become twisted and corrupted by society and the world around us. Jesus tells us that, “... the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). Don’t get me wrong, these things do, in fact, come from God, but because we are a flawed and sinful people, we have changed what was meant to be something good into something that is killing our Spirit from the inside. God wants us to be happy, but we must give what belongs to Him—our time, our talents, our relationships, and lifelong dreams. He knows what we need better than we know ourselves, so why wouldn’t you want someone as awesome as God at your back—better yet, at your side?

I am not going to sit here, and tell you that I know everything about being a man, because, quite frankly, I haven’t figured it out fully myself. What I can offer for you is what I have seen or observed regarding the subject, because with Manhood, there is more to it than what the world has to offer.