- Photo by Amber Cox -
"Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are, for it shows me what your ideal of manhood is and what kind of man you long to be." - Thomas Carlyle, July 1850.
The men of my family are real men.
I love them dearly and I fight for them by every righteous means available to me, precisely because I have no illusion about them. They are men, honorable men, facing the challenges common to all men.
Life is too brief to be small, to short to be little, so I fight for these men to live bold and courageous lives of noble faith, with iron endurance in the face of suffering and a beautiful manliness, deserving to be called real men.
I'm fighting for them but that's not all that matters. The Apostle Paul minced no words when he admonished Timothy to "fight the good fight of faith." Like all men who are real men, they know every man must fight the good fight.
Craig Groeschel wrote in "FIGHT" (the book the men of GCC are discussing at our breakfast meetings on the next three Wednesday mornings), that three specific challenges have made strong men weak since the beginning of time: lust, entitlement and pride.
Paul said, "We wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
The world needs real men, manly men who know how to fight and win the battles that matter most.
Game on!
Colossians 1:10-12 - We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.