Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

All right, brothers, welcome back Tuesday morning. We said yesterday,

if you remember, just read in the book of Genesis about how we were designed by God. We're

bigger, we're stronger, we're faster, our brains are wired. We handle the cold better. Our skin is thicker. So what are we called to do

with this unique strength and aggression that God's given us? Well, in Genesis 215, we read the

mandate given to the man. The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it or work it and keep it.

And this is where God is letting us know, hey, I want you to take this unique strength and I want you to lay it across creation.

And I want you to work it and keep it.

And so the nature of the work given to men is the work of cultivation. To cultivate means to create, to build, to be used by God to help things

flourish. And so as we think about our lives as men, we're to give ourselves over to the work of

cultivation. Our hearts will come alive there,

our souls will soar there, and the people around us will also begin to flourish as we do the

work of cultivation. Now, it's important to note that work is painfully difficult, but then really,

really rewarding. I hope you know this. Like,

serious work in a fallen world where sin is all around us is like childbirth in a microcosm.

Like it doesn't come easily, not if it counts. It's challenging. It's uncomfortable. And we

encounter obstacles, both expected and unexpected.

So it's going to take pushing, often beyond our sense of ability. But I hope you already know

this. In the end, it's undoubtedly worth it. And so what are we meant to cultivate? Well, I want to

highlight just two quick things today. Number one, you have got to

brother cultivate a sense of self. What I mean by that is we see in Mark 1231 the commandment to

love your neighbor as yourself, which means you don't really have the capacity to love your neighbor if you don't

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