Just Handle It

Speaker 0:01

Gentlemen, every day is a battle. A battle for your faith, your family, and your purpose. The men who stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives. They prepare before it begins. Welcome to the Men's Morning Devotional. Let's get into God's word. It's time to man up.

Steve Alessi 0:27

Good morning, gentlemen. It's the old man on the team, Steve Alessi, and it's time for another man up moment. And I'm saying this to you today: if this is helping you, be sure to pass it on to a brother, because it'll probably help them as well. So this week we're looking through the book of wisdom in Proverbs chapter 6, with today's devotional being about a man who is challenged to just handle it. Proverbs chapter 6, verse 1 through 5 says, My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands and pledge for another, if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself. Go and humble yourself. Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Now every man eventually makes a decision he wishes he could take back. Maybe you personally have agreed to something too quickly. Or maybe you made a commitment without thinking it all the way through. Or you spent some money that your wife didn't want you to spend. Maybe you even gave your word and later you realize, shucks, man, I just shouldn't have done that. That's what Solomon is talking about here, is he describes a man who gave his word and put himself in a bad situation. So the question then is, what are we supposed to do when that happens? Well, he doesn't say, hey guy, you messed up, and there's nothing you can do about it. No, he says, get up and handle it, which is actually one of the marks of a mature man. You see, you're gonna go make decisions and make some bad decisions at that. Occasionally, you're gonna say yes when you should have said no. This isn't about whether you'll ever commit to something you shouldn't have, but what you're going to do after you committed and then you realized you shouldn't have done so. Solomon's advice to us is guys, just go humble yourself and resolve it. Now, gentlemen, don't let your wife hear this podcast because I'm going to say something that's pretty damning about us guys, and that is one of the hardest things a man could do is admit I was wrong. Pride wants to defend a decision, or pride wants to blame somebody else when we do so. Pride even wants to pretend that everything is fine. But here's where wisdom steps in it says, look, I made the decision, so I'm going to take responsibility for fixing it. And then Solomon, he even takes it a little bit farther. He says, Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. In other words, what he's saying there is, don't put it off. Do it today. See, there are men carrying problems right now that could have been dealt with months or even years ago. But instead of confronting the issues, they say to themselves, man, I'll just deal with it later. We procrastinate. Maybe it's a financial issue or a conversation that needs to be had with the missus, or something between you and one of the kids. Maybe it's a commitment that you made it work that you need to straighten out, or maybe you owe somebody an apology. Maybe you even get yourself into something that now you know to get out of. Well, whatever it is, this is great advice from Solomon today. Just go handle it. Don't let pride keep you trapped. Don't let embarrassment keep you trapped. And whatever you do, don't let procrastination keep you from doing what you know is right. Because a strong man isn't a man who never makes the mistake of a questionable decision or overcommits or makes questionable choices. A strong man is a man who steps up and takes responsibility when he does. I love that. So here is our man up challenge for now. You ready? Ask yourself one question. Come on, look in the mirror and ask yourself what have I been putting off that I already know needs to be handled? Now, whatever comes to mind, take one action today toward making it right. Yeah, get on the phone and make the call. Have that tough conversation. Admit the mistake. Correct the commitment. Because what you're doing there is you're taking responsibility. What we don't want you to do is sleep on what you already know needs to be handled. Man up and handle it. Let's pray. Father, give us the wisdom to recognize what needs to be handled and the humility to take responsibility for it. Help us as men right now not to allow pride or to procrastinate and keep us trapped. Instead, give us courage to make things right and wisdom to make better decisions going forward. Help us also, Lord, to be a man of our word and men who honors you in everything we do. In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 5:43

All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word. Now go live it. Lead well, stand strong, honor God in everything you do. Share this devotional with another brother. Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.