“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
“You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”
James 2:24
“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
James 2:17
Weak men emphasize grace far more than they emphasize action.
The religious world is plagued with the weak man’s mindset. Every Christian understands the necessity and importance of grace, but the weak man uses grace as an excuse to do evil. The weak man uses grace as a way to justify his lack of spiritual progress. He wallows in his “brokenness” and begs God to do all the work for him. God does save us by His will and by His grace, He does all the heavy lifting of removing our sins, but we still have a duty to behave as men and not use grace as a reason to avoid behaving righteously or the work of improving.
The beta focuses on his emotions, how he feels and how “church” makes him feel instead of focusing on the work he needs to do for the God of heaven and earth. He sings songs to make himself feel good rather than to serve God. The weak man uses grace to justify his weakness. He mistakenly thinks if he actually improves that there will be no place for grace to fill his life and make him feel warm and fuzzy inside. This man is a disgrace. Christians already have a reputation for looking weak and pathetic, and these men who are constantly emotional and effeminate do not help this perception.
Over-emphasizing grace relieves us of the responsibility to work on our character flaws and be obedient to difficult commands.
Many men think they do not have to do anything besides accept grace and then they are good to go. This is the foundation for the sinner’s prayer or “accepting Christ as our savior”, or any other concepts of salvation that oppose the Bible, are found nowhere in the Bible, and do nothing for our salvation. These are the concepts of weak men. Pathetic men want to say a one-lined prayer or theatrically call out to Jesus and “invite him into their hearts”, because that definitely works and you see that in the Bible. Have you ever seen a highly masculine man invite Jesus into his heart? This is weak man’s grace.
Mantra
Grace is sufficient, but my work is also required.
Application
Christianity is not just about grace. It is founded on grace, and would be nothing without the grace of God, but there is still a great deal of work that we as men are still required to do. We cannot sit around and wallow in emotions and talk about how ‘bad’ we are – that is weak man’s grace. Contrary to popular belief, we do not need to go forward to repent at every youth rally. Boys who go forward at those events are more interested in having girl’s breasts pressed against their chest when they hug than they are about changing their actions.
Men are interested in action, taking action and avoiding unnecessary or detrimental emotions because they know that emotions delude reality and are not a reflection of it. If a man is not firmly grounded in his principles of logic, he has the responsibility to first set aside all emotion and uncover the truth of who he is and what he believes. Once he is firm in these facts, he can then add back emotion to supplement the logic if he wants.
We must tone down our emotions because of the fact that emotions do not equal reality.
Emotions are not to be trusted or built upon, they are unstable and weak when used as foundations. Emotions are good fuel for your vehicle, but you have to make sure you are driving in the right direction first.
Catch yourself when you are getting too emotional about some event or situation and ask yourself a few questions.
In worship: “Is it right to be this emotional right now? Is this emotional momentum about me or about God? Am I thinking about grace, or merely feeling about grace? Are these emotions improving the worship to God, or merely improving how I feel about the worship to God?”
When You Become Angry: “Is this emotion productive for this situation? Can I control myself with a hot emotion like this? Would I make better choices if I wanted and cooled down before moving forward?”
When You Become Fearful: “Am I behaving like a man when I panic? Is this situation that important in the long-term? If the worst-case scenario happens, what will I lose? Can I think of situations that are far worse than mine currently? Can I detach from this emotion?
These are important questions to just a few situations where emotions rush into the mind. These questions also differentiate between usefulness and selfishness of emotion. Do not focus on your feelings because they are not always indicative of righteousness. Emotions do not automatically equal sincerity. The only way to prove sincerity is through actions, and sincerity is especially proven when you take action without emotional backup.
Reject your feelings and force them into submission until you know what you believe.
Weak man’s grace is selfish, and you must be reject the desires of the self at times.
Focus your thoughts on action.
Control emotions.
Keep rationality and wisdom with you always.
Conduct yourselves like men.