Latest / Men's Morning Devotional / Just Handle It

Transcript

Just Handle It · Men's Morning Devotional

• 0:01
  Speaker: Gentlemen, every day is a battle.
• 0:04
  Speaker: A battle for your faith, your family, and your purpose.
• 0:07
  Speaker: The men who stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives.
• 0:11
  Speaker: They prepare before it begins.
• 0:14
  Speaker: Welcome to the Men's Morning Devotional.
• 0:17
  Speaker: Let's get into God's word.
• 0:19
  Speaker: It's time to man up.
• 0:27
  Steve Alessi: Good morning, gentlemen.
• 0:28
  Steve Alessi: It's the old man on the team, Steve Alessi, and it's time for another man up moment.
• 0:32
  Steve Alessi: 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.
• 0:41
  Steve Alessi: 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.
• 0:50
  Steve Alessi: 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.
• 1:07
  Steve Alessi: Go and humble yourself.
• 1:09
  Steve Alessi: Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
• 1:13
  Steve Alessi: Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
• 1:19
  Steve Alessi: Now every man eventually makes a decision he wishes he could take back.
• 1:24
  Steve Alessi: Maybe you personally have agreed to something too quickly.
• 1:29
  Steve Alessi: Or maybe you made a commitment without thinking it all the way through.
• 1:33
  Steve Alessi: Or you spent some money that your wife didn't want you to spend.
• 1:36
  Steve Alessi: Maybe you even gave your word and later you realize, shucks, man, I just shouldn't have done that.
• 1:42
  Steve Alessi: That's what Solomon is talking about here, is he describes a man who gave his word and put himself in a bad situation.
• 1:50
  Steve Alessi: So the question then is, what are we supposed to do when that happens?
• 1:53
  Steve Alessi: Well, he doesn't say, hey guy, you messed up, and there's nothing you can do about it.
• 1:58
  Steve Alessi: No, he says, get up and handle it, which is actually one of the marks of a mature man.
• 2:05
  Steve Alessi: You see, you're gonna go make decisions and make some bad decisions at that.
• 2:11
  Steve Alessi: Occasionally, you're gonna say yes when you should have said no.
• 2:15
  Steve Alessi: 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.
• 2:25
  Steve Alessi: Solomon's advice to us is guys, just go humble yourself and resolve it.
• 2:32
  Steve Alessi: 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.
• 2:46
  Steve Alessi: Pride wants to defend a decision, or pride wants to blame somebody else when we do so.
• 2:52
  Steve Alessi: Pride even wants to pretend that everything is fine.
• 2:57
  Steve Alessi: But here's where wisdom steps in it says, look, I made the decision, so I'm going to take responsibility for fixing it.
• 3:06
  Steve Alessi: And then Solomon, he even takes it a little bit farther.
• 3:09
  Steve Alessi: He says, Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
• 3:13
  Steve Alessi: In other words, what he's saying there is, don't put it off.
• 3:16
  Steve Alessi: Do it today.
• 3:17
  Steve Alessi: See, there are men carrying problems right now that could have been dealt with months or even years ago.
• 3:24
  Steve Alessi: But instead of confronting the issues, they say to themselves, man, I'll just deal with it later.
• 3:30
  Steve Alessi: We procrastinate.
• 3:32
  Steve Alessi: 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.
• 3:40
  Steve Alessi: Maybe it's a commitment that you made it work that you need to straighten out, or maybe you owe somebody an apology.
• 3:47
  Steve Alessi: Maybe you even get yourself into something that now you know to get out of.
• 3:53
  Steve Alessi: Well, whatever it is, this is great advice from Solomon today.
• 3:57
  Steve Alessi: Just go handle it.
• 3:59
  Steve Alessi: Don't let pride keep you trapped.
• 4:01
  Steve Alessi: Don't let embarrassment keep you trapped.
• 4:04
  Steve Alessi: And whatever you do, don't let procrastination keep you from doing what you know is right.
• 4:10
  Steve Alessi: Because a strong man isn't a man who never makes the mistake of a questionable decision or overcommits or makes questionable choices.
• 4:20
  Steve Alessi: A strong man is a man who steps up and takes responsibility when he does.
• 4:25
  Steve Alessi: I love that.
• 4:26
  Steve Alessi: So here is our man up challenge for now.
• 4:31
  Steve Alessi: You ready?
• 4:32
  Steve Alessi: Ask yourself one question.
• 4:34
  Steve Alessi: Come on, look in the mirror and ask yourself what have I been putting off that I already know needs to be handled?
• 4:42
  Steve Alessi: Now, whatever comes to mind, take one action today toward making it right.
• 4:48
  Steve Alessi: Yeah, get on the phone and make the call.
• 4:51
  Steve Alessi: Have that tough conversation.
• 4:52
  Steve Alessi: Admit the mistake.
• 4:54
  Steve Alessi: Correct the commitment.
• 4:56
  Steve Alessi: Because what you're doing there is you're taking responsibility.
• 5:00
  Steve Alessi: What we don't want you to do is sleep on what you already know needs to be handled.
• 5:06
  Steve Alessi: Man up and handle it.
• 5:08
  Steve Alessi: Let's pray.
• 5:10
  Steve Alessi: Father, give us the wisdom to recognize what needs to be handled and the humility to take responsibility for it.
• 5:17
  Steve Alessi: Help us as men right now not to allow pride or to procrastinate and keep us trapped.
• 5:24
  Steve Alessi: Instead, give us courage to make things right and wisdom to make better decisions going forward.
• 5:31
  Steve Alessi: Help us also, Lord, to be a man of our word and men who honors you in everything we do.
• 5:39
  Steve Alessi: In Jesus' name, amen.
• 5:43
  Speaker: All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word.
• 5:46
  Speaker: Now go live it.
• 5:48
  Speaker: Lead well, stand strong, honor God in everything you do.
• 5:53
  Speaker: Share this devotional with another brother.
• 5:56
  Speaker: Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.