Excerpt from Wes Yoder's Bond of Brothers: Connecting with Other Men Beyond Work, Weather and Sports (eBook). 

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Picture men on their knees before a king in humility and dignity. The monarch says to those kneeling before him, "I knight thee," and forever after, these men are knights, made so by the honor conferred by their king, made so by accepting who the king says they are…

Now picture this: You are asked to kneel before the King of heaven — the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You bow before the one who created you in his image. You can no longer hide anything — not the lies, not your failures, not your desires, not your pride, nor your self-indulgences or sins, nothing at all. So you present what you have, which is yourself and the meager collection of treasure you have stored in your heart.

You can worship your own image no longer because your eyes now behold the glory of the King standing before you. In his hand is the sword of truth, honor, and courage, and his eyes flash with authority. You come to this moment with so little. What you bring, frankly, is embarrassing. Before this great Master and King, there remains one simple, honest prayer and hope of your heart.

In that moment, as you kneel before him, he says in the strongest yet gentlest voice you have ever heard, "Welcome, my son. I hereby confer on you your manhood. It is a gift for which you were created but could not attain. Thanks for bringing me your treasures. I now give you mine. If you accept the exchange, stand up and enter the freedom I have created for you."

The God Dare

Try it. Try bringing him everything. Everything.

Dare to hold your hands open before the one true and living God and say, "Lord, take from my hands anything not pleasing to you and place into my hands only those things that are pleasing in your sight. Do anything you want to bring my life into harmony with the original design."

These are the prayers of genuine manhood. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

- Wes Yoder

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(Some styling above is a web-exclusive feature not included in the text of Bond of Bros. Image attribution: By Howard Pyle (1853-1911) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)