Release What’s in Your Hand with Josh Khachadourian (Re-Air)

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

• Why many men (and women) often find themselves stuck with untapped potential
• Why Josh says we need to look at more than just one side of Jesus
• Questions to ask yourself to determine if you are building with the right spiritual resources
• What to do when you feel called to do something, but can’t see the opportunity opening up just yet
• Josh’s advice on finishing what you’ve started

Understanding Jesus as the Standard

As an entrepreneur, Josh Khachadourian has a lot of experience with leadership in the business sphere. Several years ago, this experience helped inspire his book, The Standard: Discovering Jesus as the Standard for Masculinity, as it gave him a fresh perspective on the person of Jesus. 

“I was looking at the life of Jesus, but this time I was looking with a new lens,” he recalls. “I was looking through the lens of not just the miracles, not just seeing Jesus as the Son of God, but I was really examining His life, His methods, His operating principles, His EQ. And I was looking at him through the lens of leadership that I've been privileged to walk down.”

Through conversations with fellow Christian men, Josh realized that many struggled to see Jesus as relevant and accessible in their daily lives. So he wrote The Standard as a resource to help people — especially men — understand and experience Jesus as a real man who modeled how we as humans should live, without separating Him from His divinity. 

One major issue Josh addresses in the book is the fear of failure. “We’re created for dominion,” he says. “It’s in our DNA.” According to Josh, this spiritual need to accomplish great things is what drives people to build, create, and conquer mountains. “They’re searching for God,” he explains. “They’re searching to be reunited with the way they were created.”

Unfortunately, many people end up suppressing this desire because they’re afraid. They worry about what others will think if they go after their dreams and fail to achieve them. As a result, they end up frustrated, because they know they aren’t living up to their God-given potential. Going after our dreams and being vulnerable about our struggles can be incredibly scary, but it’s necessary if we’re going to live the life God created us for. 

Following Jesus’ Example

Another important theme of Josh’s book is exploring the different attributes of Jesus as the standard for masculinity. Although Josh believes anyone, regardless of gender, can and should learn from Jesus’ example, he writes especially to encourage and inspire Christian men to become leaders according to the model set by Jesus. 

In Josh’s experience, the church often emphasizes Jesus’ softer, nurturing side, while placing less importance on His more traditionally masculine traits. “We’ve highlighted Him so much as the Lamb that we’ve lost sight of the Lion,” Josh says. 

Josh’s book covers six characteristics of Jesus that set an example for Christian men:

• Self-leadership and discipline
• Leadership of others
• Communication skills
• Empathy
• Confrontation, especially in defending the vulnerable
• Love and bearing the cross

In each section, Josh includes not only examples from Jesus’ life, but also practical applications for those lessons. For example, referencing 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, he argues that everyone is building something spiritually — the question is, what are you building and why, and is it what God wants you to build?

“I don't necessarily believe that wood, hay, and stubble is necessarily bad,” he adds. “You can build really good things with wood. You can build structures, you can build things that can last. But the scariest part for me is, was I called to do that?” As we learn to follow the example of Jesus, we must also learn to examine our motivations and discern whether