“Confess your faults one to another…” – James 5:16a
I have to take you back to the days when you were told as a child to apologize to your brother or sister. As if it were your last breath, you uttered a resentful and reluctant, “I’m sorry,” speaking so low and slow, that your parent had to say, “Nobody heard that! Say it again! And say it like you mean it!” Your voice was raised and the same apology was repeated. You tried to retain your real feeling, but the resentment was still revealed as it came out of your inner being and how it was reflected in your tone, rate of speech and body language. Where was the sincerity?
I’m not going to start my week off that way, and even though I did not ask permission, know that I speak for all of the brothers as I offer a sincere apology to all the sisters this Sunday morning. We are sorry for being critical of how long it takes you to get ready in the morning. Yet, let me explain, without canceling out the apology. As men we say, “What do you different than we do?” You have to do your hair, but we have to shave our heads. You have to pick out clothes that make you look good, not just presentable, but we are guilty of trying on more than one outfit to make our appearance pop too! You have to put on lotions. So, we have to put Vaseline all over our ashy bodies! You have to curl your hair. Okay, but we have to groom our beards and trim the hair that comes out of our ears and noses as if forgot to go all the way to the top of our heads where we needed it most. We know you have to do your makeup, but we do too! Being truthful and transparent, we have secretly borrowed your eye liner at times to have that tailored-like, very even, second day old beard, minus the grey! So sisters, forgive us of our lack of empathy at times, because I’m sure there are still some things that you do to properly get ready that we don’t realize! We apologize; for real, sincerely!
Speaking of some things you do that we don’t do my sisters, I would have to say that you go to church more than us. You pray more than us! You never panic as you put your faith on display, knowing that the Lord will supply! Your Bible has more notes written on the borders of the pages than ours! You seldom depart from your character as a virtuous woman. We need to be leading you and loving you like Christ loved the church, in marital situations, but sometimes we falter and fail and even single men stumble and fall. You wait on the Lord better than we do! But pray for us, okay. Pray that we can make another comparison at the end of this week and we will owe no apology. Men, while the women are praying, let’s stop playing and press on toward the mark! Wouldn’t that be nice not to have to say, “I’m sorry.” Enjoy worship this morning and be blessed all week long!
“…let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us…” – Hebrews 12:1b Amplified Bible
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King