I’ve spoken at, and have attended, many, many, “Christian Men’s Conferences.” Most, if not all of them, usually boil down to one message which is: “quit masturbating.” Yep, that’s what they all seem to deduce down to; namely, love God, love your family, and stop whipping the bishop.
Seldom, if ever, have I heard the pastors, who chair these “Men’s Meetings”, talk about the sin of worry which is a big sin in Jesus’ eyes.
Matter of fact, in the aforementioned text, Jesus jackhammers those who wallow in worry because that vice eviscerates one’s trust in the nature and character of God, the Father, and that ain’t cool with Jesus, the Son.
When Jesus smelled worry, doubt, and fear in his boys, he fish slapped that out of them, PDQ. To Jesus, worry was an egregious affront to the faithful love and care of the Father.
Jesus was not saddled with worry.
Why wasn’t he?
Well, it was principally because he wasn’t a tinkerpot, and he knew and trusted his heavenly Father’s rock solid dependability.
Worry is definitely not masculine.
Think of the pathetic and emasculated images that worry and anxiety spawn.
It’s stuff like biting fingernails, chewing your lower lip, sweating, fidgeting, tapping your feet and fingers nervously, jiggling your keys and change in your pocket while getting ready to bolt like quail on point by a bird dog.
Jesus didn’t roll like that. He was bold in the face of Cat5 hurricanes, lack of food, no place to live, going toe-to-toe with el Diablo, hostile mobs, cruel beatings, and ultimately his brutal death on a cross.
Worry was not a part and parcel of his holy repertoire and he was not going to tolerate it in his disciples. It was a sin and when it manifested in his disciples he rebuked it out of them.
Instead of truly believing and trusting in the provision and protection of God, nowadays Christian men pursue what they believe will secure them, i.e., material things, 401k’s, tribulation shelters, mommy and daddy, and of course Visa, MasterCard, and American Express all the while numbing their anxieties with Xanax, Klonopin, Librium, Valium, and Ativan in order to offset their worries which the Scripture calls the sin of unbelief.
Speaking of sin.
Much of the Church has a totemic view of vice.
The Catholics definitely do.
The evangelicals do as well but we haven’t organized them officially under such monikers such as “Mortal” and “Venial” sins.
Within the Medieval Church’s definition of “The Seven Deadly Sins” worry and anxiety, which the Scripture deems and damns as unbelief, isn’t even mentioned. Hello!
So, why does worry get a pass from the Church and not from Christ?
I’ll tell you why. It’s because we all do it and worry doesn’t have the scandalous “buzz” sins like lust and wrath gin up.
Jesus rebuked his boys and exhorted them away from sweating the necessities of life like food, drink, and clothing, which were hard to come by back then as there were few grocery stores, zero shopping malls, no Papa Johns, or Starbucks, and Evian wasn’t even invented until the 20th century.
For the uninitiated, food, drink and clothes were hard to come by for Christ’s crowd. They were farmers and ranchers in an arid locale that could see brutal droughts and in the face of inclement conditions Jesus said, effectively, “don’t sweat it … God’s got your back … he likes you better than birds and grass which are well taken care of and beautifully adorned by him.”
Jesus said your focus should not be on fretting about such things but on his kingdom concerns and he promised when your sights are locked-on to establish his will and way on the earth that God will float your boat.
Men, when they are worried, are refusing to trust God and thereby they let him, their family, the church, and their nation down by curling up in the fetal position versus standing forthright, in faith, against everything Satan and life can toss at them.
Run from the sin of worry, my brothers.
Be bold.
Be strong and trust God in the face of adversity and watch your heavenly Father show himself mighty on your behalf.
