More was broken in The Fall than we even begin to imagine.   The first external effect of The Fall shows up in the brokenness of intimate fellowship and communication between a man and his wife.  Almost immediately concealment takes the place of clarity.  Any man who loves a wife or daughter recognizes that this effect of the fall is still in play.  Men struggle with subtlety in language.  We are often incapable of setting the words spoken by our beloved in the proper emotional context necessary to decipher what seems to us to be coded messages.

Perhaps you’ve seen the YouTube video that parodies this through a mythical product called the “Manslater.”   The Manslater is a device that translates what a woman says in “simple man words.” When a woman says, “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes,” the Manslater translates it into: “Me ready 30 minutes.” Using “emotion and female logic deciphering technology,” this device can also work on men. When a man says to a woman: “Wow,” the Manslater translates it to: “Your beauty is stunning!”  As much as this resonates with us, the reality is that only the gospel can reconcile the brokenness sin brings to our relationships and communication.

But it is no secret that men need straight talk.  Though we don’t often like it, we need bluntness — iron that sharpens iron and the wounds of a friend.  The Letter of James in the New Testament fits this bill.  James speaks forcefully and bluntly to the matters that men struggle with: anger, speaking when we should be listening, unguarded speech, failure to pay attention to God’s Word, favoritism, and faith that talks but does not walk, just to name a few.  In the short space of five chapters, James issues a radical call to a faith in Christ that is expressed, not merely professed.

Join us, Friday mornings in May from 7:00 – 8:00 am at Blue Sail Coffee, downtown in Technology Park, 417 Main St., Little Rock for fellowship, prayer and discussion, as we gather with other men to learn from The Letter of James and consider some straight talk about walking the walk.