Half the story

I don’t think men have got the full story about God, and the relationship of God and Jesus, so we’re making a decision on only half the facts. You don’t have to do it my way, but I want to give you the opportunity to have a look at this before you make your own choice.

Fellas, remember that when we hear something new and unfamiliar often there will be ridicule and rejection within us before acceptance. We’ve been conditioned and taught not to trust. We think someone’s trying to take advantage of us. But don’t let other people decide for you. Make up your own mind.

I grew up thinking God was the Big Boss with all the rules, taking the fun out of life. God was for Sunday, for a couple of hours where you didn’t get too excited. Sunday School was boring, and I was always in trouble with the teacher! It was very sad at Easter about them killing Jesus on a cross, and Christmas was Santa mixed with carols and this little baby in a dirty manger, presents and holidays.

The image I had of Jesus was this young bloke with long hair wearing a white dress and maybe a sheep over his shoulder, with a face that was nonplussed bordering on sad. His name didn’t sound like a bloke’s name to me. (I didn’t know back then that lots of blokes in South America are called Jesus.)

I didn’t relate him to the reality of manhood and life that we encounter every day. I’m sad to think that I took so long to get to know that this bloke is the best example of the champion’s way of life. He’s also the reason we can have a champion life in the first place.

What has been served up to blokes over my lifetime is only a fraction of the message about the reality of God and Jesus. We haven’t been given the relationship message about the best mate you can have. On one side, we were given rules and don’ts and negatives. On the other side, we were told to love a man, which generally doesn’t sit well with blokes.

We’ve been sold a dummy.

There’s more to God than rules, and more to Jesus than the fluffy-duck soft part where a lot of people want to keep him.

Jesus the Bloke was a carpenter, a chippie. He told these boofheads to follow him, and none of them could seem to get it right, but he didn’t give up on them. He gave turbocharged words that blasted people into the champion’s team. He wasn’t afraid of anyone. He took on injustice and greed. He did real life and set up the perfect way of doing life, kind and gentle sometimes, and other times playing the hard ball and stepping up to the plate. Most blokes have an instinct to want to save the world, but he actually did it. We’ve been robbed of all this because he’s been wussy-ised into nothingness. 

This bloke was The Bloke. He was the All. He was the Real- Deal. Fellas we haven’t been given the real guts of this, because when you get to know this bloke called Jesus, there’s nothing wussy about him.