Man on Fire

Man on Fire is a movie about an intelligence officer who becomes jaded and disillusioned with people until he regains his fire for life while attempting to rescue a little girl who he was protecting and had befriended. That's the movie. America is full of men who too have become jaded, disillusioned, and apathetic. Is that such a big deal? Does it really matter what the character of America's men is like? Has it affected our families? Does it impact our future? I say YES it definitely does make a huge difference.

Scandal rocks seemingly every facet of the corporate world and governmental agencies. By and large, fairness and integrity have been tossed out the window if another dollar can be made. The average working man is taught to go along to get along rather than being encouraged to stand for his principles. So, he does what he feels he must and loses his trust for leadership and authority. That attitude then spills over to other areas of his life.

He looks for and finds injustices everywhere. His boss is a jerk to him while the boss' cronies get treated nicely. His kid does not get to play enough on the little league baseball team. When his wife asks him about his work day, he feels threatened and becomes sullen and withdrawn. He thinks to himself that she is really asking him if he has yet mustered the guts to ask for that overdue raise he was promised two years ago but somehow never got.

In the end, he becomes numb and stops caring. He doesn't care if he performs well on the job. He doesn't care if his wife is happy. He doesn't care if his kids are doing well in school. He figures life drones on until we die, all marriages get stale, and kids will eventually muddle through school like he did. He turns on the TV and tunes out til bedtime. He teaches his family his new dogma of "you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, just let me be." Does any of that sound familiar? Did I miss the mark too far? I must not be too far off. The divorce rate is alarmingly high, teen violence is on the rise, single-parent homes are becoming the norm, and the men of America seem to be missing in action.

Would more money solve the dilemma? No, but better money management would help some. Do we need more stuff to make us happy? No, we have more material possessions than ever and yet we are unsatisfied with what we have. Maybe we need more leisure time. I don't think that is the problem either. We already spend too much time and money on empty activities such as all-access, digital, high definition, forty-football-games-a-week cable programming. I love watching football too, especially if the Cowboys aren't fumbling and stumbling, but come on, enough is enough.

No, the problem is much deeper. It is a matter of the heart. I believe many American men have stepped away from the plate because we have lost our sense of purpose. We have taken our eyes off the eternal and fixed them on the temporal. God through Christ Jesus gives us eternal purpose. I want to mention two here.

First, we are here to glorify Him. To do that we must first be in right relationship with Him. That is, we need to be saved. We need to place our faith and trust in Christ, ask Him to forgive our sin, and ask Him to be our Lord and Savior. Then we need to be in right fellowship with the Lord. Unconfessed sins need to be confessed and forsaken so that the Lord will hear our prayers and so we can hear His Spirit leading us. The psalmist David said in Psalms 66:18 that if I regard sin in my heart the Lord will not hear me. Now we are ready to let our lights so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven (Matt. 5:16).

Secondly, we are to emulate Him. We are supposed to be growing into Christlikeness. He told the apostles in the upper room as He washed their feet that the one who would be greatest of all would be servant to all. Men, we are too often waiting on someone to wait on us when we should be leading in the care of those near us. Paul, in Ephesians 5, says that, yes, men are the head of the home as Christ is the head of the church but we like to stop there and misuse that verse to lord over our wives and families. Paul went on to say that husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Do you see the service aspect of our position as head of the home? Men, our wives would follow us more willingly if we would first willingly follow the Lord. Let us set that example. God has called us to be His children and He has called us to SERVE as leaders in our homes. Who He calls He empowers to accomplish.

The Philippian jailer asked Paul what he must do to be saved. Paul said believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your house. Each member of the jailer's family had to trust Christ as well but when Dad believed, the family followed his lead. I was saved at age 11, in large part, because when I was 10 my Dad got right with the Lord and got us in church so we could hear the gospel.

Guys, our wives need to depend on our leadership and strength. Our kids are desperate for our love, attention, and example. Let me use an oil lamp as an analogy. The lamp's flame burns low when the wick is dirty and when the oil is old. Trim your wick. Confess and forsake that sin that has dirtied your heart. Replace the old oil. Ask God for a fresh anointing of His Holy Spirit on you. Then set that lamp where it sheds light on all around it. Our lamps may be dim but God is faithful and eager to make them burn bright IF we will let Him. For our sakes, for our families sakes, and for our country's sake, we need to once again be men on fire, on fire for the Lord.

Because He lives,

Robby