I see manhood under spiritual attack.
On December 8, 1941, a joint session of congress convened in Washington D.C. The President of the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, stood before them and declared a short seven-minute speech. The most memorable line from it was the first. Most of you have heard it…
Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
Seventy-six years later military tacticians say that event he’s referring to was the greatest example of the power of the element of surprise in the history of military combat. It was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. With little to no warning, at around 8 a.m., 353 Japanese aircraft along with their naval forces launched an attack that lasted only 110 minutes yet killed nearly 2,500 Americans and wounded over 1,100 more.
Manhood Under Spiritual Attack
Christianity is not a playground. It is a battleground. The Bible is explicitly clear that we have an enemy that is out to destroy us and take from us everything we hold dear. If we are not prepared for his attacks, men, the result will be a massacre!
In talking to pastors and leaders of men’s ministry all over the country, here’s my list of spiritual attack on the souls of men:
1. Manhood Under Attack: PRIDE
Pride is a primary spiritual attack on a man because it is the sin that is below every sin. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said, “Unchastity, anger, drunkenness, are merely fleabites in comparison… Pride leads to every other vice.” Pride is when you are focused on “me” in the center of your life. When you think about you and your pleasure and your happiness more than anything else.
Pride pushes other people around you away. It diminishes your capacity to love them. When you are full of you, there is no room for anyone else. So, the result is that everyone around you feels devalued.
2. Manhood Under Attack: IDENTITY
This plays out in many ways in the lives of men. I grew up in Alabama. In that state, college football is crazy. I’ll be honest, it borders on idolatry in my own heart. I have seen many a man feel superior or worthless simply because of how their college football team of choice performs on any given Saturday. I bet you know someone who feels like less of a man because his buddy kills a bigger deer, lifts more weight, makes more money or has a more successful career.
The Bible is very clear that Christian men are to seat their identity completely in their sonship to God.
