The Lion Within Us - Leadership for Christian Men 

566. Genesis 2:18 - Spiritual Kick Off

• Chris Grainger

Share episode

What if the secret to a thriving marriage isn't about finding the right person, but embracing the right perspective? At the heart of God's design lies a critical distinction that transforms relationships: marriage as a covenant, not a contract. While our culture promotes conditional arrangements where we stay committed only as long as our needs are met, God established something far more profound. A covenant says "no matter what, I'm in" – mirroring God's own faithful, sacrificial, and enduring love for us that never wavers based on our performance.

We’re going live every weekday with our Daily Spiritual Kickoff—free and exclusive inside our community. Join us for a powerful Word, real encouragement, and practical ways to lead with faith at home and work. 

No cost. No excuses. Just truth, brotherhood, and bold leadership.

Claim your free access now 

It’s time to stop sitting on the sidelines.

Step into the fight and become the man God called you to be. Join a brotherhood built on truth, strength, and action. Visit thelionwithin.us right now and start leading with boldness and purpose. Iron sharpens iron — let’s go. 👉https://thelionwithin.us/

Try a Community Subscription Risk-Free for 30-Days.

No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, The Lion Within Us has a place for you. Don’t worry—if you decide later that another path suits you better, adjusting is simple. 👉 https://thelionwithin.us/resources/community-subscriptions/

Get Free Daily Inspiration With Our Bible App Devotionals

Our devotionals dive deep into the pillars that define The Lion Within Us - health, wealth, and self. Whether you're seeking spiritual growth, financial wisdom, or personal development, these devotionals are tailor-made for you. Connect with The Lion Within Us on the Bible App. 👉 https://thelionwithin.us/bible/

Chris Grainger:

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, fellas, this is a spiritual kickoff time. I'm excited to be here with you. I actually love the SKOs. I must admit they're probably my favorite episodes. I do enjoy talking to the people, the interviews and stuff like that, but there's something about the SKO that's just special, so let's get right into it. So we're.

Chris Grainger:

Scripture of the Week this week is Genesis, the second chapter, the 18th verse, and it says the Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. So we're going to see how we can unpack this, how we can simplify and apply this one verse into our life as Christian men. Fellas, and that's what it's all about. And again, if you enjoy the spiritual kickoff episodes each week they come out on Monday, by the way, which, if you listen to the show, you know I do this Monday through Friday within our Lion Within Us community Every morning go live, read scripture. Usually, we break off larger pieces of scripture, we're not just looking at one verse at a time, but you may just be encouraged by it. We don't put this content anywhere else. We're not posting it on YouTube or anything like that or making a source out of it. It lives right there within our land, within this community. Now, the Daily Spiritual Kickoff. We've even made that free for guys, so it's just a free, easy way to connect with us, to be encouraged. If you can join the live feed when I'm reading it live, that's great. You can chat directly. If you can't join the live feed, hey, we put those videos there so you can literally go back, you can binge them, you can get caught up. We're right now working through the minor profits, so it's just a great way that you can just be encouraged each and every day. We know that that's so important, okay.

Chris Grainger:

So as we dig into this, we need to understand where is Genesis? All right, so just open up your Bible Page one, that's where we get started. Chapter two maybe like page two, but at the very beginning. Okay, this week we're going to be talking about really a couple of things, but for this context, we want to really lock in on God's design for marriage and how it's a covenant, not a contract. Ok, because from the very beginning, god was super clear on this mandate. We were not, as men, meant to walk alone. How can I get a hallelujah from somebody out there, right? Genesis 2.18 shows us this right here, because he's looking down. God is on his creation, which he made, and he said something profound. He's like look, this is not good for this guy to be without a companion, and in that moment he made a woman Right. This wasn't an afterthought, but he did this as a defined partner for us. So what he did right here when he made this happen, he established the first marriage. This wasn't some disarrangement. No, this is a sacred covenant and we need to understand the difference between covenants and contracts. Lots of guys get this mixed up and I'm telling you, if you get this right, things just typically go better. Okay.

Chris Grainger:

And today's marriage many people think of the marriage itself as contractual. I mean, we actually go in and you sign a contract, get a marriage license, right, and it's something that we opt into with the expectation of getting something in return. That's how most guys think it's. If you, then I right. If you do this, then I'm going to do that right. But God didn't create that marriage to operate under those conditions and have these different performance clauses, right? I didn't just go to Beck and be like, all right, here's the deal. If you never gain more than 10 pounds, if you cook three square meals a day, right, and if you always are dressed, with your hair done and your makeup done, then I'm going to be faithful to you. Because if I had to put those stipulations in place, what would she have done? She probably would have knocked me out, if I know her. But I mean she would have been in a really good standing to walk away. Because that's ridiculous, right? You wouldn't put conditions around that, right? Because contracts think about contracts in business. Do contracts always stand the test of time? No, contracts are broken all the time because contracts says as long as you meet my needs and I'm going to stay.

Chris Grainger:

Now a covenant is different. A covenant is binding. A covenant says no matter what I'm in, no matter what period, as God's design for marriage reflects his own love for us directly, right here. I mean God's love is faithful, it's sacrificial, it's enduring, he's not wavering, based on our performance. Can I get a hallelujah on that, fellas? And the marriage covenant calls us to mirror the same kind of unconditional love.

Chris Grainger:

And it's no secret out there, guys, that marriage is under attack. I'm telling you, boy, just look anywhere out there. Culture mocks it, it undermines it, it redefines it, it tries to at least we know. All that junk is wrong and it encourages you to abandon it when it going is tough. But we have to return to the truth of God, made plain and simple. Marriage is between one man and one woman for life, and this is not just Chris's opinion, it's a scripture, right. So, people who try to redefine it as anything else, it's not one woman and one woman, one man and one man. No, it's just one man and one woman for life.

Chris Grainger:

And as Christians, we can't just sit on the sidelines and be silent about this anymore. You definitely can't be passive about it, because the world may be calling us to progress, right, but really, what that is? That's just rebellion. It's rebellion with a smile. And I'm over it, bro. I am stinking over it because standing on the just truth may not be popular, but obedience never has been popular.

Chris Grainger:

So if you take a bold stance on biblical marriage, it shouldn't be radical Like this, shouldn't be a radical position. It should be normal for us to claim that we are in dwell with the Holy Spirit of Christ, that marriage is between one man and one woman for life. It's ridiculous that it's not Now. I'm not out here hating on somebody, no, but I am called to stand, to stand in truth, and I know what the truth is because the Bible clearly defines it, and the foundation of what we look around in society is families, communities, churches depends on the health of our marriages, guys, and we have to take this serious. We absolutely have to take this serious. This matters so much.

Chris Grainger:

He wasn't just giving. When God gave Adam, he wasn't just giving him a buddy, he was giving him a picture of Christ and the church and that marriage being the living metaphor, one that's supposed to be a display for us, for divine love for the world that's watching us, for divine love for the world that's watching us. And when we treat it as something that's disposable or we try to redefine it or to fit it into what are the new norms of the day, we distort the message, and that's just wrong. So we need a revival of covenant thinking, a fresh vision for marriage that endures the storms of life, that embraces the sacrifices that you have to make and reflects God's unwavering faithfulness. That's transformational boys it is. You talk about a home, a generation and a legacy. You do marriage the right way. It has an impact all around, all around those areas.

Chris Grainger:

Because God was right on this, because we're in a world where so much is shifting and truth is under attack, we got to remember that God is right, he was right, he is right, he will always be right. He was right is right. He was right, he is right, he will always be right. He was right about marriage. He was right about love. He was right about a covenant. His perfect design still works, his standard is still holy and his ways are still good, though they just are.

Chris Grainger:

So we need to be a champion for his view of marriage, not just with our words, fellas, but with our lives as well, because it has to move away from this, this, uh, what's in it for me? Type of thinking to the no matter what man, no matter what I'm in a covenant. And then you have to have the boldness to say what needs to be said, without compromise. So I'm telling you, if you're trying to counsel or encourage a brother out there right now to get married and you're telling him anything but what the Bible is encouraging us be careful. Be careful Because when I meet with guys, I'm thinking about one guy right now. He just graduated college. He's been dating this girl. I was like, all right, bro, I think it's about time she's shown you these qualities. You know what's there, so let's just not, you know, be stringing people along. Let's go ahead and move into that covenant of marriage.

Chris Grainger:

Question though as you start thinking about your life, are you treating marriage as a covenant or contract? Just be real and I'll be honest for me, it varies from situation to situation. It seems like I'm trying to do a better job of being thinking of it as a covenant, but there's too many times I've been. You know what, what's in it for me, and that is wrong, and that's a. That's a reframe that I am working on and hopefully that's something that you can work on as well. But being self-aware enough, aware enough to even think this way is the first step to course correction. All right, fellas.

Chris Grainger:

Well, if you, if you're listening to the show, by the way, we also know that everyone who listens to the Lion Within Us, it's not a Christian. We hope you are. Obviously, the majority of the guys who do listen are Christian, but not all of them are. I don't even know what this thing, the Bible, is it even true? Or what does this even mean for me? And I just want to tell you one thing, bro.

Chris Grainger:

So this episode, for this particular verse, is right at the beginning of Genesis 2. But right before that we see God's perfect design, where he created everything, he spoke, he spoke, he spoke all these things into existence. Then he formed man, which was. His name was Adam the first guy. He breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. He did. At that point Adam was face to face with his creator. He said, and it says that he was made in the image of God. So we're image bearers of a holy God. Right, it's crazy, incredible.

Chris Grainger:

Then you flip over, like two pages of your Bible and you have this fracture of that relationship. God's all about relationship. That's what we're talking about this week. It's all about God's relationship with us. But that severed it because when sin entered, that separated us from a holy and righteous God. So God is holy and we are not. There's this chasm, this gap between us.

Chris Grainger:

So most people think, okay, if God is real, if he's real and there's a gap between who I am and who he is. I just need to do some things to be better, right, like I just need to be a nice person. I just need to show kindness. I just need to do some things to be better, right, like, I just need to be a nice person. I just need to show kindness, I just need to be loving. And if I do these things okay, if I do these things, then when I pass, like God's going to let me in, he's going to let me in on my merit, because it's the things that I've done to try to earn a right standing or a good favor with God.

Chris Grainger:

And that's a dangerous trap. You know that's the old Oprah has. You know she said there's many paths to heaven. She's just wrong, bro. She's wrong on a lot of stuff, but this one she is blatantly wrong on. No, because we can't earn a way into heaven because that's called workspace righteousness and it just don't work. Fellas, I'm sorry, it just doesn't. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it just doesn't work Because there's never an amount of good that's going to be enough, because if we knew that amount of good, wouldn't everybody in the world just go out there and do just that amount, check the checkbox and then go live your life. See what I'm saying.

Chris Grainger:

So when we start comparing ourselves to other people, we start feeling really good about ourselves, but when we compare ourselves to a holy and righteous God, it's like uh-oh, uh-oh. See, so we fall short. The Bible says we all fall short of the glory of God. Every single doggone one of us falls short of the glory of God. So what does that mean? So if we have this chasm, this gap, we can't cover on ourselves, we can't be coached up to overcome this. What do we need? We need someone to step in and do for us. We can't do for ourselves. Therefore, we need a savior.

Chris Grainger:

That's where jesus enters the scene, who left heaven on a rescue mission for us directly, was born of the version fulfilled fulfilled all the prophecies, grew up, started his ministry, taught us, showed us, had the miracles, raised people from the dead, cleansed them, healed them, made them walk All the different miracles Jesus did to prove to us without a shadow of a doubt that he was the Messiah, he was the one, the perfect Lamb of God. And then he said oh, you know what Penalty of sin is? Death. These guys, I'm going to go pay it for them, pay it in full. So he did. He willingly went to the cross and offered himself up as the perfect sacrifice for the entire sin of the world. So when he was hanging on the cross, he was thinking about me, he was thinking about you, he was thinking about every person out there, because he loves us so much, and to the point, fellas, he didn't just pass out on the cross, he didn't faint or go to sleep or any of that nonsense. Jesus died, he died on the cross. Nonsense Jesus died, he died on the cross.

Chris Grainger:

So at that point, for most religions, endgame it's over. Right, the guy's dead. They put Jesus in a tomb, they wrapped him up. They, you know, trying to bury him, get him ready for a forced burial, rather, Put him in a tomb, sealed that thing up with a stone. He's gone. And if it ends right there, then we're all wearing black every Sunday because it's like we're going to a funeral, we're just mourning a dead guy. He's still in a tomb somewhere, right, but it don't end right there, because three days later, after they laid him in a tomb, jesus rose. He rose, he overcame death. Now I don't know about you, but I'm hooking my wagon to the guy that overcomes death, that defeats death, that death can't hold him anymore. That's the one I'm following, period. Don't care how many Instagram followers he has or Facebook friends, none of that stuff. No, this guy overcame death. Therefore, I am submitting, I'm following him. And then he ascended to the father. He's right, he's at the right hand of the Father. Right now he is the way, the truth and the life.

Chris Grainger:

Fellas, and the Bible clearly tells us, there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus is it? So that means we have a decision to make as individuals here on earth. First, do you even know that you have a problem? Do you know that you are a sinner? A sin is anything that separates us from God. Do you have that? So, if you recognize and you admit that you're a sinner, do you believe? Do you really believe, that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the Messiah? Is there enough evidence from the Bible Right here, from what you have been shown and understand, believe that Jesus is the son of God? And if you've been through those two check boxes, what do you do next? Well, you got to confess him as Lord, you got to repent and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior Of.

Chris Grainger:

Repent and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. This means Lord over everything, not just Lord over Sunday morning at 11 o'clock, no, it's about Lord over every minute that you're awake, everything that you do, every circumstance. Marriage over your finances, marriage over your bedroom, marriage over your career, marriage over your parenting, everything. He has to be Lord over it all. And once you make that confession, the Holy Spirit's going to come, it's going to dwell, the scales are going to fall off and then you're in the battle. Bro, you're in the battle now. You're getting your butt kicked. You don't know why, but it's because you've got blinders on. But when the blinders come off, you get word of God.

Chris Grainger:

But it all starts with that decision. Why don't you go and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? And that is my prayer for you right now. If you're listening to this, if you're on a treadmill, if you're driving down the road, if you're walking or if you're just sitting on the john, I'm telling you, if you haven't confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you're hearing my voice right now, that could be the Holy Spirit saying what are you waiting on, bro? And if you feel like that's where you're at right now, then let's just handle this business that we need to handle right now. I'm going to pray with you as you confess and call on Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.

Chris Grainger:

So, father God, for that one listener out there, this message has just rocked them. They recognize that their way is just wrong and they're ready to repent. They're ready to turn to you. They're confessing you as Lord and Savior. I pray you hear their prayer, father. I pray you put some people in their life. That's going to help guide and direct them.

Chris Grainger:

I pray, finally, for them as they start their discipleship journey that I know that he was going to try to do all he can to trip them up, to steal, kill, destroy everybody to join their life. I just pray against that. I pray just for some encouragement in their life right now to help them get started on their journey with you the right way. We love you, jesus, we praise you. We thank you for what you did for us on the cross in Jesus name, amen, all right, so if you just joined, I want you to hit me up. Okay, seriously, send me an email, because I got as much resources we want to hook you up with. Uh, I want to give you, find out where you're located, see if we get you plugged into a good church, and also just want to give you some encouragement or it could be a lady out there as well, but my email is chris at thelionwithinus. Send me an email there. We'll get connected, we'll have a conversation and then hopefully I can give you some things to get you encouraged and get you started on the right foot, okay. So, guys, thanks for listening. Give us a rating and review Again. All the stuff that we do can be found at thelionwithinus. That's the lion within. Dot us. Okay, so go out there, check out those resources. Open up the Bible app as well. We're on the Bible app. I had tons and tons and tons of Bible studies on the Bible app, so hopefully you enjoy those.

Chris Grainger:

Start your daily spiritual kickoff that's, that's free. Start your community experience. That's a super easy way to get connected with this as well. Fellas, we have Lion Lunches, we have Bible Studies, we have Friday Forge, we have Couples Night. Guys, we have so many fun ways. We try to engage with guys each and every week within our community.

Chris Grainger:

And then our Leadership Mastermind. This is where we drop the plow and go deep. Fellas, this is not for everybody, so what we ask is, if you're interested in a Leadership Mastermind is apply. We have an assessment to get started. It's a super easy way, it's free. Get started with the assessment. Go over there to thelinewithinus, scroll down to UC Leadership Mastermind, click on that button, or you can go to thelinewithinus slash mastermind and all that stuff is found right there.

Chris Grainger:

Okay, guys, I hope you have a great day. I'm super pumped for the episode that's coming up next on your Wednesday drop, so it's going to be a fun conversation, lots of insight, lots of wisdom, super just encouraged by it myself personally. So hopefully you'll find that just as entertaining as well as educational. So, guys, have a great day. Thank you so much for all the support for listening. Share this out with others and just keep unleashing the lion within. I've got something big to share.

Chris Grainger:

We're making a major shift because we know the battle was real and it's time more men had access to the support they need.

Chris Grainger:

For too long, guys have been trying to carry the weight alone pressure at work, tension at home, wounds from the past in a world that demands strength but offers no place to rest. We see it, we've lived it, and that's exactly why we built our community. It's a stronghold, a place where warriors can find rest, truth and a band of brothers standing beside them. And starting now, we're making it easier than ever to step in. We've lowered the barrier to just $15.99 a month. That means, for less than the cost of a drive-thru lunch, you can join a brotherhood that's centered on Christ and built for growth. Inside you'll find access to our daily spiritual kickoffs every Monday through Friday, our Lion Lunches, our Bible Studies, our Friday Forge gatherings all that and so much more. Every man needs a stronghold, and you don't have to fight alone. If you've been waiting for the right time to jump in this is it been waiting for the right time to jump in this is it. Go to thelionwithinus and join the community and see for yourself what happens when iron truly sharpens iron.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Chris Grainger

Host