Iron Sharpens Iron

Our last word was a challenge to become men of integrity. I got so many responses from that email from all of you making me realize just how intense the battle is. We’re desperate to merge our public and private worlds, we’re desperate to end our isolation and begin to feel right about ourselves!

Today’s word enlightens us with the payoff for pursuing spiritual integrity, some of the reasons why we should even bother to journey our private lives towards the light.

“During a break at a men’s conference, a fellow came to me, shook my hand and took a deep breathe before asking a good, selfish question. “So what’s the payoff?” he asked.

“Freedom,” I answered.

King Solomon explained it another way: “He who walks in integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9 NASB). For God’s man, the payoff is a confident, secure walk with God. With undivided loyalty, his choices are clear. With no duplicity, he has no hangovers of character. When he’s away on business, he is the same person as he is at home. He is the same man on Friday and Saturday nights as he is on Sunday mornings. He’s a father who says what he does and what he says. He is a husband his wife can trust and follow.” Every Man, God’s Man pg. 26

Those payoff sound like a dream!

One of the problems is as men we like to know what is expected of us and then to go off and get it done. We’re drawn to tasks, goals and projects. Things that have a beginning and an end. We love the satisfaction of completion. You know how good a cold beer tastes at the end of a long day of manual labor!

What makes the pursuit of spiritual integrity so hard for guys is there is no beginning and end to the testing. It’s a daily, and sometimes a 500 times daily, taking up your cross and choosing Christ, choosing to be in the light. So where and how do you start!?

As Mr. Darrell O’ Donoghue, my fellow african savage reminded me this week in an email...

“I think becoming more significant is a process of lots of little choices every

day to follow Christ, and then one day you look back and realize you have had

a significant life. In short, practice significance.”

Let’s start to PRACTICE INTEGRITY and begin to enjoy some of the payoff mentioned in our Every Man, God’s Man except today.

Amen!

Rob