![]() Consider discussing them with your men’s leadership team before your Fall kickoff. We know it can be hard to take time out to reflect on what exactly we are trying to accomplish and how we are doing at accomplishing that mission.īelow are ten ideas for you to ponder over the summer. You see, a courageous man is never off duty.Īdapted by permission from Dennis Rainey’s new book, Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Manhood, 2011, FamilyLife Publishing.Ministry to men is a tough job…ask any men’s leader and he’ll tell you it is like herding cats. The man who walks humbly with God is motivated and empowered to step up and assume the difficult responsibilities that come his way. Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” The core of a man’s life should be his relationship with God. A man follows God’s design for true masculinity He is called to demonstrate selfless, sacrificial love – the type of love we see in God toward his children.ĥ. A man is called to be a servant-leader – to take responsibility for his wife and children and to put their needs ahead of his own. This paints a picture of leadership contrary to how the world views it. The passage goes on to say that husbands should love their wives “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (verse 25). He completes the sentence with, “as Christ also is the head of the church.” While the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:23 that “the husband is the head of the wife,” he quickly puts to rest any notions that this leadership allows for selfish male dominance. Serve and lead may seem like a contradiction, but they are inseparable according to Scripture. This father protects not only his son but the generations to follow as the wisdom he shares gets passed on. Proverbs 4:10–15 describes a father who protects his son by passing on wisdom, helping him build godly character, and teaching him to reject the lies and temptations of the world. Here’s the bat!”? No!īut being a protector calls for more than ensuring physical safety. To borrow an illustration from John Piper and Wayne Grudem on the essence of masculinity: When you are lying in bed with your wife, and you hear the sound of a window being opened in your kitchen at 3 a.m., do you shake her awake and say, “The last time this occurred, I was the one who took our baseball bat and investigated to see if someone was breaking into our house. A father should train his children and prepare them to become responsible adults who know how to negotiate the swift and sometimes evil currents of culture. Every man needs to provide for his family, which also means taking responsibility to provide for emotional and spiritual needs. His self-worth sinks.Ī man who doesn’t work, who can’t keep a job, who moves from job to job, or who refuses to assume his responsibility creates insecurity in his wife and children. When a man doesn’t work and provide for his family, he feels a sense of shame. He’s a man with a heart, head and conscience.įirst Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” These are strident words. He’s not defined by his exploits below the waist. He protects a single woman’s virginity and innocence. He keeps his eyes off pornographic images. ![]() He keeps his hands off a woman who is not his wife and treats his wife with love, respect and dignity. He doesn’t abuse women or children he protects them. Single or married, a real man tames his passions. I began looking through the Scriptures, focusing on passages that talk about men and manhood, and along the way, I discovered five prevailing themes. The honesty of Scripture is one of the reasons I knew the Bible would be the place to go to learn what a real man should be and do. Like these soldiers, we are called to stand and do our duty while staring down the very storms that seek to rob us of courage, taunting and tempting us to neglect our duty and abandon our posts. As a friend told me, “If these men can stand guard over the dead, how much more important is it that I stand guard over the living – my wife and children?” He acknowledges the storm, but he doesn’t give in to it. When the hurricane hit, the soldiers remained at their posts even though they were given permission to seek shelter. ![]() That was not the case at Arlington National Cemetery, where guards stood vigil at the Tomb of the Unknowns at the time, just as they had done every hour of every day since July 1, 1937. The edges of the hurricane passed through Washington, D.C., prompting the president and members of Congress to find safer quarters. In 2003, Hurricane Isabel slammed into the East Coast of the United States, leaving 16 dead and cutting power to six million homes.
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