There are moments when the Christian life does not need new strategies, new language, or new platforms. It needs repentance. It needs clarity. It needs men to stop drifting and return to the ground they once stood on with conviction.

Many Christian men today are busy, informed, and distracted. We read articles, watch clips, debate issues, and follow leaders. Yet for all our activity, many of us have quietly left the basics behind. We still believe the right things, but belief has thinned into familiarity. Familiarity has dulled urgency. And dullness has produced weakness.

If you want strength again, do not look for something novel. Go back.

Start with this. Put God first.

Not in theory. Not in a vague sense of respect or acknowledgment. Put Him first in actual priority. Before your work. Before your comfort. Before your opinions. Before your sense of control. Jesus did not say, “Seek Me somewhere in your schedule.” He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.”

Many men want God’s peace without God’s rule. That will never work. God does not take a back seat. He is Lord, or He is ignored. When God is first, everything else finds its place. When He is not, everything else begins to unravel.

Next, recover your first love.

Some of you love theology more than Christ. Some love ministry more than Christ. Some love being right more than Christ. Jesus warned a hardworking, doctrinally sound church that they had left their first love. His command was simple and terrifying. Remember. Repent. Return.

Ask yourself an honest question. When did your affection for Christ cool down into an icy cold and boring routine? When did gratitude turn into assumption? When did the cross stop breaking your pride and start becoming background noise?

Christ did not save you to be impressed with yourself. He saved you to worship Him. A man who loves Jesus deeply does not need to be prodded into obedience. Love pulls him forward.

Then, become a man of the Word of God again.

Not an occasional reader. Not a verse skimmer. Not someone who will only open his Bible in a church service when the pastor reads a passage. Instead, you must be a man shaped by Scripture.

God has chosen to reveal Himself through His Word. You cannot claim closeness to God while neglecting the primary means by which He speaks. Scripture is not optional equipment. It is daily bread. It corrects you. It humbles you. It strengthens you. It exposes sin you have learned to excuse.

Weak men neglect the Word and wonder why temptation feels overwhelming. Strong men submit their minds to Scripture and find their footing again.

Open your Bible daily. Read it slowly. Read it honestly. Read it with the intention to obey. Let it wound you where you need wounding and heal you where you need healing.

Read it over and over and over again, from Genesis to Revelation, and keep reading the entirety again and again. Know it. Love it. Live it. Let it be by far the most influential thing in your life.

Finally, become a man of prayer.

Not polished prayers. Not rushed prayers. Real prayers.

Prayer is where self-reliance goes to die. It is where excuses fall apart. It is where men learn how little strength they actually have and how faithful God truly is.

If your prayer life is shallow, your Christian life will be shallow. There is no workaround for this. God has ordained prayer as the means by which dependent men walk in strength.

Get alone. Get quiet. Speak plainly. Confess sin. Ask for help. Thank God for mercy. Do this daily.

The Christian life does not need reinvention. It needs men who will return to the basics with seriousness and resolve.

Put God first. Love Christ deeply. Live in the Word. Pray like your life depends on it.

Because it does.