Hey Ladies,
This is Curtis. I wanted to take an opportunity to let you know about a new resource for men at Living Proof. We have created an audio daily devotional called Drive Thru the Bible. It consists of fifteen 7-10 minute messages you can listen to on the way to work, dropping the kids off at school, or running your daily errands. This 2-CD set on the life of Elijah was designed with men in mind, but would make a nice resource for anyone who might have trouble finding daily time in God’s Word or who just wanted an extra helping during the day.

Since it can be difficult giving a loved one a spiritual gift they weren’t asking for, here are a few helpful hints.

How to Give a Bible Resource to Your Husband

1) Picture how you would want to receive a gift and do the opposite.

2) Don’t hold him accountable if he hasn’t asked you to hold him accountable.
-To a man this is like calling an offsides penalty in the middle of a baseball game. He won’t want to play by your rules if he hasn’t agreed to play your game. *If you did not understand the sports reference above, just see rule 1 again.

3) Try not to create a universal standard for godliness.
-His approach to God will probably look different because men are not wired the same as women. You can find a calculator and an alarm clock in the electronics department, but they won’t output the same information. I’m the only one in our family who has done all of Beth’s Bible studies (I’m on the last week of Esther right now), but sometimes I have to split one day into two because I can’t focus for that long. So, don’t expect your husband to join you in a 45 minute in-depth Bible study session right away. Jesus may be more than happy with 8 minutes with your husband.

4) Tape the gift to a Sears, Lowes, or Home Depot gift card.
-It may also help to tell him that for every day he does his daily devotional the amount increases by $5. I understand this is a bribe, but how do you think I’m training my son to go to the bathroom on the potty?

5) Do not nag! REPEAT: Do not nag!
-If you want to see if he’s using it, look in these 3 places:
a) Where you gave it to him.
b) Wherever he keeps the cash he’s been saving, but doesn’t want you to know
about (but you already know about and help yourself to while he’s at work). *Amanda would like to add that she didn’t know it was his birthday cash!
c) Check his car. He might surprise you.

6) Don’t give up.
-“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

*You can find Drive Thru the Bible: Elijah in the “new products” section of our LPM online store. You’ll see it if you click here and scroll down a little.

Holiness, the Holy Spirit, and James Coney Island
by Curtis Jones

Last night I swore off fast food. I’ve been having some stomach pains and a few days ago I ran out of Zantac. It’s not the first time. A few years ago I noticed I was starting to develop sharp pains in my stomach. Since I’m a male, I didn’t do anything about it. One day I was on the way to eat lunch with a friend and the pain was so unbearable I made him turn around and take me to the doctor. The problem was, since I am a male, I didn’t even have a doctor. So I looked one up in the yellow pages. I arrived at the doctor’s office, told him the situation, and waited as he ran some tests. He was perplexed, so he told me about Zantac (praise God), and scheduled me for an ultrasound the next morning. I was a little embarrassed to be having an ultrasound since the only people I knew who received ultrasounds were pregnant women. I was confident I wasn’t pregnant. In high school my youth pastor told us that if we filled out a True Love Waits card we didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant. It turned out he was right.

When I showed up for my appointment, I was escorted into a small dark room and asked to slip into one of those paper gowns. Then they made me wait as if it were some twisted joke among the staff. “The guy in room 1b is wearing the paper gown! How long should we make him wait?” Eventually, a woman came in and told me to lie down on the table. She took a wand and rubbed it around my stomach. I tried to peek at the screen, at which time she informed me that I wasn’t allowed to see it and then moved it out of view. While she did veil the screen from my eyes, she failed to veil her amusement at the state of my stomach. I’ll spare you the diagnosis, but suffice it to say that I needed to cut out soda and French fries.

Last night my gastrointestinal misery led me to proclaim to Amanda that I was done with any food you can get through a window. She seemed unmoved by my new commitment, probably because it is not the first time she has heard it. No doubt she knew I couldn’t, wouldn’t follow through. Turns out, she was right. Only thirteen short hours after my resolute decree I found myself in the drive-thru of James Coney Island (home of the best chili dog in Houston). They have the freshest buns, the juiciest hot dogs, and cheese that comes out of a gun. I was bewitched. I couldn’t resist the siren’s call. And I’m weak.

I’m the king of commitments. My specialty is spiritual commitments. I’m going to read through the Bible in one year. I’m going to share my faith every day. I’m going pray with my wife every night. You name the commitment and I guarantee I have made it. And broken it. Each time I come with good intentions, a pure heart, and an intense desire to do what is right, but rarely does it work.

Will-powered faith is the worst kind of faith. A relationship with God that is rooted in our ability or strength is doomed to fail for two reasons. First, a will-powered faith will result in self-loathing. We make commitments, try our hardest, give it our all, and fail. So we try again…and fail. And the only person we have to blame is ourselves. Some of us suffer from a spiritual depression because we have lived in a cycle between trying and failing for so long. Second, if our will-powered faith doesn’t end in self-loathing it is because it ended in self-righteousness. We make commitments, try our hardest, and we succeed. We congratulate ourselves on a job well done. Then we look around and notice that other people are not experiencing the same success we are. Why don’t they try as hard as me? Maybe they are just not as godly. Self-loathing or self-righteousness—God hates both.

That’s why he sent us a Helper. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17, ESV). Jesus said it was to our advantage that He went away so He could send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7) to rescue us from the inevitable cycle of human strength-centered living. He will give us the help that we cannot give ourselves. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21, ESV). The Holy Spirit’s power at work within you, the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11), is able to do for you supernaturally what you could not do naturally: live for Jesus and resist fast food.