Back in the late 80’s, I did a stint as a landscape guy.  I was a mower operator for a commercial company and I lived my life as most of my colleagues did.  My typical day was “up at 5 AM, work until 6 PM, drink until midnight, pass out, repeat”.  Other than the occasional night that carried into the morning, where I often went straight from drinking to working, that was my life.  And like every guy, I think I got to a point where I thought “There has GOT to be more than this”.  After all, I was in my 20’s, I had a girlfriend of sorts, an apartment…I was a man, I suppose.  I worked side-by-side with a guy named Bruce, who was an overtly born-again believer.  He used to tell me, every single day, that I needed Jesus.  Jesus who?  I had no idea who Jesus was, but Bruce kept on me.  I finally began questioning him about life, space, Noah’s ark, creation…anything that popped into my head.  He did a great job of answering all of my questions, so finally, during our typical lunch-in-the-truck, I had the stones to ask him about marriage.  After a little pause, Bruce flatly told me that, as part of following Jesus, he and his wife felt that sex was strictly for procreation.  He said that they were done having kids, and that he hadn’t touched his wife in over twelve years.  And thus marks the abrupt end to what we’ll call:  “Exploring Christianity with Bruce.”

Fast forward to just a few years ago.  I was then the master of ceremonies at Christian men’s events all over Florida, and it was almost time to take the stage and launch into eight hours of sheer, albeit overproduced, manliness.  At zero hour, two older (much older) men approached me, pointed angrily at the stage and shouted, “You can’t have drums on the platform!  It’s not Christian!”  After digging deep into the dark recesses of my Old Testament knowledge, I informed them both that King David danced naked, and that we would be doing the same thing during the afternoon session.  And thus marks the abrupt end to “My conversation with two old dudes about drums”.

As I look back at my well-over-30 years of living a life without Jesus, and why I thought it was better than the alternative, I can narrow the main reasons down to just a few bullets.  First, Christianity was all sacrifice and everyone was beyond dull.  I felt, at this time in my life, that a man had to jettison anything fun in order to be Christian.  Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, every Christian man I knew was “man repellent”.  I didn’t see anything that I wanted to be, so I avoided them all.  Ultimately, as many non-believers do, I came up with this simple math equation:

Church + old people, divided by coats & ties + pipe organs x boring= Christianity.

Notice that God isn’t in the equation, nor is Jesus Christ.   But that was my reality.  And it still is for a lot of guys.

So how does a man succeed at Christianity without really trying?   Simple.  Back it up two thousand years, and let’s take it from the Master Himself.  Here are three simple guidelines that will make life as a believer easier, and maybe even lead a man who isn’t saved right to the foot of the Cross.

• It’s all about love.  Jesus gave us two commandments, right?  Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (aka- everything you got) and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 27:37-40).  When in doubt, love.  When the guy next to you in traffic flips you off, love him. It isn’t about wardrobe, doctrine, music, Bible translations or pews.  Jesus narrowed all the rules into one word:  Love!

• Live life as a paradox.  Think backwards to live forwards. If the world tells you it’s right, it’s probably wrong.  Love your enemies (Matt. 5:44).  When you are weak, He is strong (2 Cor. 12:10).  We must die to live (Rom 8:13, Phil 1:21).

• Edify, don’t destroy.  Ephesians 4:29 says “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”   When you want to level someone with your tongue, just don’t.  James 1:26 says it best: “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”  I don’t know about you, but my mouth gets me in a lot of trouble.  Check out Proverbs 18:21 and James 3:1-12.

We need to drop our doctrine and take a good look at those three concepts. Apply them to any situation.  Your wife is all over you?  Love her, serve her, love God with everything you have and speak kindly to her regardless of what she said.  Boss at work is an overbearing jerk?  Love him, work hard, love God with everything you have and watch what you say.  Kids are out of control?  Love them, love God with everything you have and don’t exasperate them with your words.

It’s really as simple as 1, 2, 3.  Love, serve and edify.  And maybe a guy like I used to be will see something in you that they desperately want.

BOOK DAVID TO SPEAK TO YOUR MEN —–>  HERE

FOLLOW DAVID ON FACEBOOK —————> HERE

David Dusek is founder and director of Rough Cut Men Ministries and author of Rough Cut Men: A Man’s Battle Guide to Building Real Relationships With Each Other and With Jesus. Rough Cut Men has been presented to NASCAR teams, at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy, at military bases around the world and at hundreds of churches and men’s conferences of every denomination. To find out more about the Rough Cut Men, or to book David for an upcoming men’s event, please check out roughcutmen.com. 

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

The post How to Succeed at Christianity (Without Really Trying) appeared first on Rough Cut Men.

Webster’s Dictionary defines Apologetics as “reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.”  In other words, it’s the fine art of defending what we believe in, using facts and, in our case, the inerrant Word of God to prove His existence.  And the audience is typically someone who either wants to disprove that Jesus exists, or someone who has a completely different belief system than we do.  In the vast landscape of apologetics, we are to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15).

That’s where I get in over my head.  A lot!  First, I have absolutely no theological background whatsoever.  Man, my kids can even sing the 66 books of the Bible in order, and I can barely remember if Hebrews in the Old Testament or the New Testament.  Color me handicapped when it comes to doing battle for the Lord, at least academically.

Second, I have a past life.  Let’s call him “Dave”.  Dave’s life was filled with a lot of alcohol, drug induced stupors, broken relationships and a cynical anger that could rob anyone’s joy in mere seconds.  The people who know “Dave” likely recall a hard-partying man, with a brutally sarcastic edge and no love for anyone or anything.  Incessantly negative, always brash and just plain rude, Dave was awful.  There are literally hundreds of people who only know him, and not the new creation, known as “David”, who came into being on a fateful day after losing absolutely everything that mattered, and everything that didn’t.  Crushed and hopeless, “David” was birthed from the pain of loss and crisis.

Thanks to the inception of social media, I have been given the opportunity to re-connect with people from high school and beyond who have some not-so-fond memories of me.  While I have been cruising along with life for the past 25 years, so have they.  And their last impression of “Dave” has often been the lasting impression.  Enter “David”, a Jesus freak with the same brash approach, which is now classified as a “bold” approach to spreading the Good News.

Have you ever noticed, when you profess Christ to people, that the barrage of question is almost insane?  Immediately, old friends look to you to justify why you believe in God, as if seminary is a prerequisite.   And I often find myself thrust into the very apologetics that I know nothing about.  In no particular order, here are some of the questions that I have fielded:

•  There are millions of animals on the earth.  How did Noah’s ark hold them all, since it was so small?
•  How come there are no historical records, other than the Bible, of the exodus from Egypt?
•  How did Jesus pray to Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane?
•  You say the Bible is from God, but man wrote it, so it has to be flawed.  Why do you believe it’s all true?
•  A talking donkey?  Really?!

If you have people who remember the old you, they are often going to square off with you about the overall construction and validity of Scripture.  And if you are like me, you don’t have a clue about 98% of it.

Not to sound like an irreverent moron, but at the end of the day, I don’t really care how many animals fit into the ark.  And, as a human, wrapping my arms around the Trinity would be mental suicide, since His ways are so much higher than mine. (Isa. 55:8-9).   All that I know is “David” is kind, compassionate, loving and full of hope.  I live for God, not for me, and I know that I will someday be with Him in Heaven for eternity.

So when I get cornered about how I know that Jesus exists, my default answer is always the same, and taken straight from the mouth of a blind man who met Him face to face,

“Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25).

Thank God that “Dave” is dead.  No apology needed…

David Dusek is founder and director of Rough Cut Men Ministries and author of Rough Cut Men: A Man’s Battle Guide to Building Real Relationships With Each Other and With Jesus. Rough Cut Men has been presented to NASCAR teams, at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy, at military bases around the world and at hundreds of churches and men’s conferences of every denomination. To find out more about the Rough Cut Men, or to book David for an upcoming men’s event, please check out roughcutmen.com. 

The post Dave is Dead appeared first on Rough Cut Men.