November is Men’s Month here at UN-ASSOCIATED and for the month of November, our weekly monthly devotionals will be authored by men in our community. The theme and prompt of each piece is community and discipleship. Today, we continue today with Malik.
Being a man isn’t easy. Whether you’re in the stages of an early walk with God, about to be married, married with children or in your golden years, Being a man can be extremely difficult. You have to balance leading your family, pursuing God, standing in the gap for others, doing charity from the heart, providing, being a spiritual leader, working a job and even more. Over time, these tasks can start to weigh down on us especially spiritually and take a toll in how it pops up in our lives, like in our mental, emotional or physical health.
This gets magnified and made even worse when we are isolated, lacking focus, and without community as men. But, fret not; there is definitely a transformation to this tale.
The beauty in this is that our Father always keeps us covered and knew ahead of time what we would need and why we’d need it. Like it says in 2 Timothy 3:16–17, He equips us with what we need to complete every good work He’s set out to do. That is why having discipleship and community that is Holy Spirit led and submitted is extremely important. God designed human beings as social creatures and for worship. We are biologically designed to want to interact with each other and build strong bonds through channels such as family, community service, and social groups, like friends, church or workplaces.
As men, once we surrender to the Lord in those areas we see drastic transformation and renewing of our mind and our lives. Community isn’t a waste of time, but a chance for fellowship, connecting deeper to our extremely multifaceted creator through the many ways He shows up in others in the body; having created each of us uniquely with unique perspectives, wants, desires and personalities. God uses this to equip us for life’s hardships and the path he has carved out for us.
More than that, within the body discipleship & community quickly becomes family. Everyone is moved by the Holy Spirit and takes a genuine interest in what you’re doing, feeling or going through in a way we just wouldn’t have access to the same when alone (Acts 2:42–47).
Have you ever heard of why God gave zebras stripes? It would seem it wouldn’t make sense for camouflage because they don’t blend in with the dry arid prairie of their natural environment like in Africa. But remarkable enough, through a process called “motion dazzle.“ Zebras can confuse or distract predators and insulate themselves from danger in a big group by all of the various stripe patterns moving against each other. In a similar way, when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to be a part of a community; we similarly insulate ourselves from satanic oppression that would have a greater impact singling us out alone(Ecclesiastes 4:9–12).
Finally, community is the perfect breeding ground for improvement through accountability and being held responsible for our actions. When we have no one, we rule around as a “king” unchecked, which quickly leads to an entire host of problems. Allowing yourself to be “checked” and held accountable is not only powerful, it’s necessary for our growth as we continue to walk with Lord Jesus and become more like him(Galatians 6:1–2 & Proverbs 27:17).
So let me ask you, what’s holding you back from being a part of a community & what could be holding you back from that new level of vulnerability with God & your siblings in Christ?
