1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
Do everything in love.
What Makes a Man “Manly”?
There is a fascinating
case study presented in the Old Testament that is generally overlooked by most
readers of the Bible. Before the nation
of Israel had a king, there were a variety of regional leaders, called judges,
who helped guide the people and unify them in times of national crisis. There was a prophetess named Deborah who was
looked to for insight in settling disputes and she was greatly respected by the
people of the region of Ephraim. She
sent for Barak of Naphtali to come and lead the local army against a coalition
of Canaanites who had been cruelly oppressing the Israelites for twenty years. She told him, "The Lord, the God of Israel,
commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and
lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure
Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the
Kishon River and give him into your hands.'" (Judges 4:6-7 NIV) Barak’s reply was not what you would call
heroic. Barak said to her, "If
you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." (Judges
4:8 NIV) Deborah was clearly taken aback
and it seems clear she did not think Barak to be particularly manly. "Very well," Deborah said,
"I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the
honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." (Judges
4:9 NIV) In other words, a woman will be
a better man than you! Not exactly a
politically correct way of looking at this but certainly the way such cowardice
in men was viewed three thousand years ago.
Men were supposed to fight for their towns and the women and children,
not the women fight in their place.
One of the difficulties
inherent in exploring what the Bible has to say about what men are to be like
is that much of the time “men” is used in a generic way and really means
“people”. It is hard sometimes to know if
certain passages are really about men or more addressing both men and
women. There are a few times though that
the Bible specifically addresses men and just men. In Colossians 3: 19 married men are told,
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with
them. Literally it is, “Men, love the women…” Of course context tells us that it is talking
about husbands and wives and speaks of the marital relationship. Men are commanded by God to love their wives
no matter what and not let any disagreement make the marriage lose its
atmosphere of love…at least not as far as the husband is concerned. Later Fathers are told to be certain to not
make their children miserable in how they raise them. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or
they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:21NIV) There is no such command to mothers in the
passage. Clearly this is something that
God sees as a critical concern. Fathers
are prone or at least have a propensity to exasperate and frustrate their
children. Perhaps it is because fathers
are not always patient with their kids or maybe it’s because men tend to expect
too much of their children. We do know
and we have seen this for generations and generations, if there is a parent not
on speaking terms with the children, it is far more likely to be the father
than the mother. We men can be too hard
on our kids and the Bible warns men to be careful and commands fathers not to
demand perfection of their children and not belittle them when they don’t live
up to their expectations.
There are two verses that
deal specifically with men and are not tied just to the family. The first is multi-faceted. Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith;
be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians16:13-14 NIV) What is translated here, “be men of courage”
is literally, “be manly”. The four
parts to this or if you like, the four points of manhood are pretty
simple. 1. Be vigilant; be awake; be attentive. Don’t let the devil catch you off-guard,
realize when you are being tempted. Pay
attention to what God is doing. Know
when He is speaking to you and recognize what is of God and what is of
Satan. 2. Stand firm in the faith. This is much different than just standing
firm. Sometimes men play the fool by
being stubborn. “Oh, I don’t need to
look at the directions!” “It’s my way or
the highway!” This is not a command to
always getting your way and if you don’t, pouting or throwing a tantrum. God wants men to make the Bible their roadmap
for life and not drift from it because it makes you or someone else
uncomfortable. Don’t be a spiritual
wimp. Stand for what is right and don’t
be swayed by what is wrong. 3. Be strong.
Literally it is a command to keep growing strong. Be a powerful force for good…for God’s
good. Take hold of the power you have
with the Spirit in you and make the world better because you work hard at
it. Fight evil. Take the devil’s strongholds by storm. Do not let any addiction or unholy habit have
control over you because you are a man with Christ living in you. 4. Do
everything in love. Or literally, “in
love do all your things.” We men struggle
to behave loving. We can think loving
and we can profess loving but to do loving is sometimes a great pitfall for
us. It is no accident that God makes
love action a critical point of emphasis for men. The Bible tells us that if we don’t act in
loving ways, we are just a loud and obnoxious man. Love is the hallmark of a man of God. Dear friends, let us love one another, for
love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows
God. Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. (1 John
4:7-8 NIV)
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