Faith and the ‘Man of God’

“Sometimes I'm a liar sometimes I'm a fake
Sometimes I'm a hypocrite that everybody hates
Sometimes I'm a poet sometimes I'm a preacher
Sometimes I watch life go by sitting on the bleacher” ~ Audio Adrenaline “Man Of God”

My friend once asked me "what would a man of God act like?" I told her “a man of God is no different than a man of the world, with the only exception that the man of God has been redeemed by a Holy God.”

I am both a man of this world and a man of God. And in this tension, I live out my faith. I live in this world as a believer; I am not immune to the things of this world which sometimes pulls me in its direction.    

My answer to my friend could also be seen in the song 'Man of God' by Audio Adrenalin:  Sometimes I’m a man of God and sometimes I’m a fake. 

Sometimes I snap at my kids or become impatient with wife. The person who I show in public is not always the same person in private. Sometimes I mess things up. And sometimes I get it right.

The moment I understand that life is pretty much indifferent to my needs, and I alone am responsible to make my path, it’s only then will I find true happiness. And it is where God meets me in faith.  

‘Perfection is the enemy of the good’ so they say. The more I try to be perfect, the more miserable I am. It’s the law of diminishing returns.

I’m a big fan of reality. Reality has a way of tempering my illusions of who I think I am. And this is where God reveals himself to me. I stand before him, and the’ phoniness’ that culminates in my life melts away.

When the illusions crumble, and all the worldly knowledge fails to answer the big questions, it is here that God finds me and my faith is animated.   

Faith is found in the everyday humdrum of living, and not is some sanitized cathedral; faith is found in the muscle aches that come with age, the loss of being ‘cool’ with the younger generation, the pain of losing someone I love, the heartbreaks, the worries and joy’s, all serve as the reference point.

I leave this topic with the chorus of Audio Adrenalins’ Man of God:

“Sometimes I don't feel good
It's hard to start the day
It's hard to climb the obstacles
That sometimes come my way
If I make it, I'm a good man
Am I a bad man if I fail?
I know I'm never good enough
so I let grace prevail”