I love meeting men and hearing their stories. Once we move past the cliche level of conversation, the single biggest category of men I’ve met is “tired.”

And I don’t just mean physically tired, although that too, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually, morally, and relationally tired. Most men are exhausted by the “me,” now, virtual reality, always-accessible-in-cyber-real-time pace of life. That includes Christian men too.

Why? Because we can’t do everything. Something has to give. So men “table” what really matters to do what’s urgent.

But in the same way we can neglect our bodies and get away with it for decades–junk food, lack of exercise, sleep deprivation–so also can we neglect our souls.

Just as you can tell the difference between a man who has neglected or abused his body for a decade or more, you can also spot a man who hasn’t maintained his spirit, emotions, and soul.

Spiritual malnutrition is pandemic among Christian men. It’s why their lives don’t make sense, or are falling apart. It’s why they are “tired.”

Without regard to how it happened, the only way to correct physical malnutrition is to eat the right food.

And the only way to heal “spiritual” malnutrition is eating the right “spiritual” food–a proper diet of spiritual food, water, and friends:

-The food of God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12-13).

-The living water of the Spirit (John 7:38-39).

-Some brothers to encourage us (Galatians 6:1-2). Encouragement is the food of the heart, and every heart is a hungry heart.

The term Jesus uses to describe this diet is “discipleship.”

So when you meet a man who is “tired,” or if you are that man, “discipleship” is what the Great Physician prescribes. He has no other medicine to heal an undernourished soul.

Until every church disciples every man…

Pat