Does this imply that we are not supposed to work? No! It simply implies that we are workers in the family business like Adam in the Garden of Eden and like Jesus going about “my father’s business.” It means that we see whatsoever job that we have as a calling, an assignment within our father’s vast conglomerate. If we grasp this truth, we would not put the assignment above the assignor; we would not do despicable things to get and keep our jobs, and we would not cut corners on the job. We would understand that God, as our father has responsibility to provide for us and he’s not about to shirk his responsibility… Be a son, brother and you’ll never have to worry about your manhood!
The Christian man would typically like to see himself as either a mighty man of valour, or aspiring to be one – understandably. Gideon, the poster mighty man of valour, was a success story. He started out an unknown, belonging to a poor family in the least of the tribe and in his own words “the least in my father's house.” Called to battle by the almighty through an angel, he at first declined, until God patiently showed him through the signs he himself requested, that He would be with him. One thing led to the other and he eventually became conqueror of Israel’s colonial tormentors, the Midianites. His epitaph may as well be this passage of Scripture in the book of Judges: “Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.”
But, for whatever it is worth we must not forget that many of the men referred to as mighty men of valour were not necessarily great men. Some were little more than ciphers, pawns on other’s chess boards, without personal achievements of their own. But given our antecedents in the Christian Men’s Network in Nigeria, it can safely be assumed that our “mighty man of valour” is simply the Christian Man in pursuit of Christ-likeness. And that shall form the basis of what I am bout to say on the “Coping with the Challenges facing the Mighty Man of Valour”.
Incidentally, my take on this subject shall be based through and through on what I sincerely is the biggest challenge facing us as Kingdom persons today – that of being who we are. And this challenge is far greater among us men because of the critical nature of our roles in the churches, families, communities and nations. It is the challenge of sonship.
The need and the process of transiting from boys to men have both been very soundly and biblically articulated by the previous speaker. The man of God, Rev Ademola Iroko has identified absolutely correctly that the Christian male who would become a man has to be able to identify and seize opportunities. He must be disciplined because the bridge between goal and achievement is discipline. He must learn to prioritize. And he must also be a good time manager. Time wasted, he said poignantly is life abused. These are nothing but nuggets of wisdom based, as they are, upon the word of God.
However, I wish to suggest that the reason many of us do not have these attributes; the reason we are having to “cope with challenges” of being real men, is essentially because we are not being who we profess we are. Let me explain. Ask any one of us who we are, we would unhesitatingly declare that we are sons of God. Asked how we know, we would quote the Bible. But are we living as sons of God? I have my doubts. In fact, if truth be told, most of us are not. You see a major part of sonship is the impartation of the divine nature, the very essence of God, His love nature, his holiness and faithfulness. If we really know that we are and are being sons of God, rather than people who just know about its possibility, we would manifest these attributes and the items listed above by the man of God would simply be part of the territory! They would be fruits of sonship rather than the root of it.
To appreciate the point I am trying to make, let’s refresh our memories about creation and the divine plan as revealed in the Bible particularly as regards work and money which is one of the enemy’s most powerful tools for robbing us of sonship consciousness. We saw in the book of Genesis that God set out to create a kingdom of sons on earth through Adam. Like the good father that he is, God provided for everything that this first son would ever need. All that this son had to do was be a son! Take care of the family business including the family estate also known as the Garden of Eden, which he was told to “dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). The original plan of God did not include today’s “work to eat” situation. God never tied Adam’s continued well-being to his success or failure in the family business. They were totally unconnected. Proof of that was that it was after the fall that God made the declaration that “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…(Genesis 3:19). This was one of the curses that Jesus, the second Adam, by his death and resurrection and therefore reinstatement of what lawyers call the status quo ante, came to repeal. So, if we are still seeking to eat bread, by the sweat of our brow, we are still living under the curse!
Does this imply that we are not supposed to work? No! It simply implies that we are workers in the family business like Adam in the Garden of Eden and Jesus going about “my father’s business.” It means that we see whatsoever job that we have as a calling, an assignment within our father’s vast conglomerate. If we grasp this truth, we would not put the assignment above the assignor; we would not do despicable things to get and keep our jobs, and we would not cut corners on the job. We would understand that God, as our father has responsibility to provide for us and he’s not about to shirk his responsibility. We would grasp the full import of these famous verses in Romans 8: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God…The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Be a son, brother and you’ll never have to worry about your manhood! (Derived from Ministration at CMN Ojokoro’s Men’s Retreat at Ota on Saturday, November 14)
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