Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

 

Do you want to feel alive, man? Then strive to win.

 

Two things are true at once:

 

As Christians, born again and alive in the Spirit, we do lose, we die to self, we lose friends, worldly praise, etc.

 

We also win and we are to strive to win. We are commanded to fulfill the creation mandate, to expand the Kingdom as Christ’s ambassadors, to bring real justice and truth and peace upon the earth.

 

Blessed are the what?….. The pacifists? No! The peacemakers.

 

Yet, there is a sneaky, self-absorbed, way of operating as a man. This is the “nice man,” neither hot nor cold, inoffensive, completely compliant, is now seen as virtuous. The values of honor are seen in losing, or at least being perpetually neutral. These men do not deal with anger, they stuff it, it will come out, usually stabbing other men in the back or not protecting the family.

 

In our old nature, deed down, we all want this: conflict adversity, fear-avoidance, running from discomfort. Why? Because doing right forces us to face our biggest fears and anger, within. (that is what it means to lose at the deep level—dying to self). We will lose battles, but battles we must face.

 

We must all stand before Holy God. I for one want also to see my children and grandchildren with a clean conscience that I had done what I could for their good. For the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

 

Are you trusting in Christ by faith and repenting of both your sins of commission and omission (passivity, refusing to take responsibility)? Are you working hard? Are you honest? Are you setting the example by participating in church, home, and marriage? Are you speaking truth wisely and boldly when it is your place to do so?

 

When you fail, both in your actions and failure to act, do you repent, turn to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and get up again, according to the favor given by God through grace? Are you doing what is right even when it feels confusing to do so, even when someone is guaranteed to be hurt or offended? Do you get angry with real injustice, dry your tears, and then do something? Do you refuse to further false narratives? This is how we both lose (against sin) and win the battles before us (the world, the flesh and the devil), as we are sanctified in holiness.

 

But more, this is a great day to be a man. We are physical beings with a normal calling to work and build. This is a great time for holy ambitions, for building and creating, as the woke-infested business cancel themselves, rendering themselves both insoluble and putrid to the public, there is a great void to fill. Employers are desperate for honest, hard-working men. They are not looking for not super-men, but normal, virtuous men. This is a great time for people, in an nihilistic culture, to hear of the hope of the Holy Gospel which makes sense of all the world. We will lose, but we will win.

 

I Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”