Are you a F.A.T. man? One of the pernicious effects that a man may encounter after walking with Jesus for many years is the idea that he has reached the summit, that he understands and knows all that he needs to out of the Scriptures, and that subsequently, he has nothing left to learn. This “idea” is of course a lie that our enemy, the Devil, would take great joy in us embracing. The mature follower of Christ rejects this deception and listens to the Apostle Paul’s warning in I Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed that he does not fall.”
Those involved in E2 may be familiar with the term “F.A.T. man”. If you are looking for men to invest and pour your life into, men to disciple, one does well to locate F.A.T men and then invest there. This simple acronym stands for Faithful, Available, and Teachable.
However, before a man looks and prays for God to give him F.A.T. men to invest his life into, he does well to be consistently evaluating if he himself is such a type of man. A rhetorical question for your consideration: Am I maintaining a teachable spirit or do I think that I already have all of the Biblical knowledge and answers that a man can attain? A good barometer of a man’s true spiritual maturity is if he maintains a teachable spirit. Do you?
St. Jerome rightfully observed that “The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologian to swim in without ever touching the bottom.”
And another questions: Am I pushing myself to go deeper in the Scriptures or am I content to continue to swim in the shallow end?
The man of God must consistently protect himself against the deception that he has spiritually “arrived.” King Solomon had things in focus when he said “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.” I Kings 3:7. The reality is that we too, if we have are thinking clearly, are but a little child who does not know how to go out or come in.
Therefore, we must rely completely and totally on His Word and swim deeply in it’s Truth, reminding ourselves of those things we have already learned and established in our lives, in addition to pushing ourselves to always be going deeper, deeper, deeper.
Questions for Reflection
- When is the last time that I have learned something from the Bible?
- When exposed to teaching on Biblical truths I am already established in do I welcome them as a necessary reminder or tune out?
- Am I more concerned with sharing what I know with others, or learning as much as I can from others?
- Do I view myself as a child that does not know how to go out or come in or as something different?
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