1st
DAVE:
Guys want action. We want to see a difference. We will sing and pray and participate in communion with God,
but sometimes it feels like its not enough. We are missing an aspect that is vital to our spiritual lives, and that is
the tangible evidence of the heartfelt commitment. I do not think that this applies only to guys, girls know this and
experience it equally. But I am speaking from a male point of view. The guy knows his inadequacy to reach out
to another person, heck most of his time is spent protecting himself from letting his emotions out. We feel the
emptiness of our words when we promise to God that “all this is for You, and the glory of Your name.” We desire
greatly to integrate our faith into our work, but often times we feel like the it’s the pastors and the women who are
receiving God’s blessing. They are the one’s directly involved in God’s work, in the work of spreading the Gospel.
We greatly fear the lack of reverence for God in worship services of our day. Because we recognize our inadequacies
and feebleness before our Master we long for a tangible way of expressing our reverence, and songs seem cheap.
Songs about how much I love Him seem cheap and out of place. I relate with Him like that every once in a while, but
often I relate more through fulfilling the potential He has called me to. I relate by following His lead in my life. I do not
disagree with the songs that are sung, I merely see them as unnecessary and worn out. But then again that is my
fault, because He has convicted me to do something about my faith. And yet I don’t have time to do what the
ministers are doing. I don’t have the energy. The cycle is complete. So I bow out. Church services are irrelevant
to me. Hear me right, I am seeking God’s face, but I can no longer pretend that the worship service is doing for me
something that it actually is not doing. I will not lie. I will participate in a rite, a ritual that reveres and lifts us God as
my Sovereign. But keep me far from Him, Whose dangerous ways I fear. Or let me get caught up in His
recklessness to the point where my life and His are intertwined in service and in purpose. And let me do what He
made for me to do. It may not look like what you are used to, but I cannot lie about who I am.
-Dave
