Setting the Standard

You have been called by God to represent His word. Your call to this seemingly daunting task is not about you, it’s about manifesting the glory of God in the earth realm. Consequently, you have now begun your life-long quest for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that will benefit others and hopefully drive them to make a deeper commitment to be more like Jesus Christ.

This call is a serious, yet joyous life event. It doesn’t even require a seminary degree. In the initial stages you might feel overjoyed, eager to make a difference, terrified, or even apathetic. These emotions are not all that uncommon among other men. Often men feel a sense of regret because they know their lives are about to change. They don’t absolutely know how, when, or where the change will take place.

We are all vessels to be used of God. However, the call of God upon your life dictates a higher level of thinking and action. You are God’s man, yet still human. You will make mistakes and errors. Nevertheless, you by reason of God’s call to action upon your life, have stepped into a greater accountability. Your accountability is to God, family, and then others.

Labels
In essence, your higher level of accountability will cause you to be a standard setter. To be honest, many people watch us in an attempt to find cause for not coming to Christ. Christians have been labeled hypocritical, hard, snobbish, and irrelevant. These labels come as an assault on us by those who have been hurt or disappointed by men (or women) of their past. Consequently, a remnant of courageous men is needed to restore order and holiness to the Church and society. We are not supposed to take notes from the secular world as much as they are supposed to glean from us. We are supposed to be the lenders, and not the borrowers! We are empowered by God to be change-agents.

As a man of God you must live a life above reproach. I Timothy 3: 1-7 says,

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (NKJV)

The Challenge
You must understand that to desire the call and authority of God on your life is a good thing. God wants willing hearts, hands, and heads to accomplish Kingdom work in His name. In fact, God has been waiting patiently for you to say “yes� all your life. Remember, He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb (Jer. 1:5). As a man of God you must be a model of Christ. Jesus was blameless. You should live your life so that if anyone has to point any fingers they will be pointed at God in thanksgiving for you. People should praise God for your impact on their lives. “Thank you God for sending Mr. Doe into my life. Lord, God, please bless him and enlarge his territory…� Your standard setting qualities will be what brings people closer to Christ. The awesome thing is this: these standard setting qualities are governed by the Holy Ghost. It is His work in you life that will allow you to be an epistle fit to be read by many.

Are you ready for the challenge of example-hood?

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