Seven Virtues of Manhood 4

-
“Raw Passion”

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Colossians 3:23

A literal translation of today’s verse could read: “Do it like your life depends on it.”

Playing the man means playing hard. It’s leaving it all out on the court. In other words, give it everything you’ve got. Don’t just make a living. Make a life. Don’t just earn a paycheck. Go after the passions God has put in your heart. Halfway is no way to live; you’ve got to go all in.

So here’s the fourth virtue of manhood—raw passion. It’s a lust for life that doesn’t settle for status or status quo. It’s an insatiable energy that motivates you to live each day like it’s the first day and the last day of your life. It’s an infectious enthusiasm that can come only from being filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing.

The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek roots en and Theos, meaning “in God.” So the more you get into God, and the more of God’s Spirit that gets into you, the more impassioned you become.

When was the last time you got outside your comfort zone physically, spiritually, or relationally? You tell me the last time you were uncomfortable, and I’ll tell you the last time you grew! Growth only happens when we put ourselves into uncomfortable situations.

How about this example? Jesus may have been meek and mild, but He also had a wild side. He touched lepers, celebrated Samaritans, stopped storms, exorcised demons, ate with sinners, healed on the Sabbath, and turned funeral processions into parades. Then He died the way He lived—with pure passion. It’s no coincidence that the final week of His life is synonymous with passion—Passion Week.

When you follow in the footsteps of Jesus, His passion will refine you and define you. God doesn’t just crucify our passions; He resurrects them and uses them for His purposes!

What can you do today that will make you feel uncomfortable—and fully alive?

*** A YouVersion devotional based on the book Play The Man by Mark Batterson.

www.bible.com/reading-plans/4023-play-the-man

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

YOUR LOVEWORLD SPECIALS. SEASON 7, PHASE 2 , DAY 2. 9TH MARCH 2023

-
I want to welcome you to today's program.  Yesterday we began to talk about God's plan for the nations in this present hour. Psalm 102:13 I explained that He was talking about Israel and describing a certain period, but this church age is very much in line with what the psalmist spoke of here.  Isaiah 49: 7-8 .  "To establish the earth. To cause to inhabit the desolate heritages ". Let's read from the Living bible. Israel will be used by God to do this at the millennial reign of Christ, but this is the church age where the church is sent to the nations of the world. Isn't that the commission that He gave us? He gave us authority to set the prisoners free.  2 Cor 6:1-2 This grace of God that was given to us in Christ Jesus, brings this blessing that Isaiah spoke about, to pass.  We are workers together with Him. He sends us to the world. This was Paul's thinking. No wonder he says "we are ambassadors of Christ as though God did beseech you by us...&quo
Read more

Be Generous and Cheerful

-
Be Generous and Cheerful  As Christians, we should be generous people, giving whatever we can whenever we can. And that doesn't just mean money, we can give help, encouragement, time, talents and forgiveness.  This means we can't let selfishness get in the way. A lot of people are stingy, clinging to what they have and afraid to give it up. Others aren't stingy in their actions, but they are stingy in their hearts, giving because they feel obligated, not because they really want to.  But this isn't the way God calls us to give. Second Corinthians 9:7 tells us, "God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, 'prompt to do it') giver [whose heart is in his giving]."  If you think about it, when we give our lives to God, everything we have is His anyway, it no longer belongs to us. We should be givers, using our resources the way He wants us to.  Give cheerfully today
Read more

Very Great in the Little Things

-
This God is our God. — Psalm 48:14 “God is great in great things, but very great in little things,” says Henry Dyer. A party stood on the Matterhorn admiring the sublimity of the scene, when a gentleman produced a pocket microscope and having caught a fly, placed it under the glass. He reminded us that the legs of the household fly in England are naked, then called attention to the legs of this little fly which were thickly covered with hair; thus showing that the same God who made the lofty Swiss mountain attended to the comfort of His tiniest creatures, even providing socks and mittens for the little fly whose home these mountains were. This God is our God! A doubting soul beheld a robin’s nest in a gigantic elm and heard a still small voice saying, “If God spent a hundred years in creating a tree like that for a bird, He will surely take care of you.” God is so interested that He takes us one by one and arranges for every detail of our life. To Him, there are no
Read more