3 Lies – Manhood #2
Part 1B: The Muscles
LIE #1B – Your masculinity is tied to your ability to compete with other men and win in the areas of the muscles (sports – physical and spiritual competition).
This lie leads to:
- Disrespect for others
- People pleasing and over performing for the approval of men
- Envy, strife, self-glorification, vanity
- Arrogance, bullying and domination of other men
- Validation as a man is based on your size, weight and strength
- Low self-esteem because your body image or loss in a competition
- Unhappy with the body God has given you
- Training addiction, bigorexia and the abuse of steroids
- Trying to overcome spiritual problems in your own willpower, rather than God’s
God’s truth:
Physical fitness is important, and body builders are to be admired for their discipline, but it’s better to be strong in godliness rather than body (1 Tim 4:8). We as men should put our strength into loving God and obeying him, instead of competing and working against other men (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matt 6:1-4).
God curses a man who puts his confidence in his own strength (Jer 17:5 KJV). We must first acknowledge that you’re weak in order to be strong in God’s power (Joel 3:10 KJV, 2 Cor 12:10 KJV). Only God’s strength can overcome the sin in our lives (Deuteronomy 32:1-47). God blessed all who depends on his strength (Ps 84:5).
How long you could pray and fast? is a poor argument I have gone on long fasts and prayer, but according to your argument I aught not seek the Lord in that manner because it could result in pride, sorry fasting and praying offends you, but it is the way to seek God and receive power according to scripture, but obviously not according to you.
Folks who hate keeping their flesh under subjection come up with these dumb arguments to refute those that love giving of their all (in body) to the Lord.
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Randy you said, “but according to your argument I aught not seek the Lord in that manner because it could result in pride…”
YOU’VE MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT I’VE SAID IN THIS POST AND HAVE ASSUMED WRONGLY.
I didn’t argue any of that. I fast MYSELF and encourage fasting on another post written a few years ago. The bottom line is to NOT do it to be seen by men for the purposes of pride’s sake. Which is what many do, and for this reason, they get no reward from God as the scripture says.
Fasting is how you keep you flesh under submission as you said in your second comment. Here’s the post I mentioned up top. http://letspleasegod.com/overcoming-the-flesh-through-fasting/
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