A while back we painted the sanctuary of our church and a man actually came to me thanked me for choosing a masculine color. I wasn’t sure how to respond. He went on to say, “Churches these days seem to be more focused on women and children. Most churches these days are boring for men.” Excuse the sweeping generalization, but men don’t want to be comfy and have flowery decor and pictures of babies with wings. That’s why they have deer camps and racquetball. Men liked to be challenged, women too, and that is sometimes forgotten.

I will be the first to admit that sometimes churches can be overly feminine and not appeal to men at all. John Eldridge talks about that in his book Wild at Heart, a great read.  I love churches, but there is definitely an element of adventure that is missing from some churches.

You see, there is a lie that says church should be comfortable. It says that God should be a comfy God, a perfect gentleman. A perfect gentleman? I did a word search and “gentleman” isn’t even in the Bible (or the Message either). Have you read about the conversion of Saul in Acts 9? God strikes him blind leaving the other men with him speechless because they can’t believe what just happened.

Uh, God, you are supposed to be a gentleman that helps me live a comfortable, American life. That’s why I go to church, for the karma. Stop striking apostles blind. It’s hurting your rep.

If you are a guy or a gal, we have lied to ourselves for far too long. We say, “God I will seek you from 10:30 to 12:00 every Sunday and that’s it,” (boring) when in reality God wants all of us (not boring). We put our lives on cruise control while we wait for the next thing because it is the easy way to live.

God has an amazing adventure to take you on. Most of you know this. There is that thing that keeps coming up in your heart, but you are afraid to step out because you may lose some temporary comfort. But you only live once, and the opportunity of a lifetime must be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity. So get after it.

What are you going to step out and do today?