Men: Are You A Spiritual Sissy?

Men: Are You A Spiritual Sissy?

[I got this idea from a book I'm reading and thought it deserved some attention. It's challenged me so hopefully I can relay the thought accurately, while adding my own thoughts of course, to where it will benefit others.]

When we open God's word and look to our examples of men in the Bible, I'm afraid many of us come up lacking. Whether in our minds as to what constitutes a man, our perception of what a "real" man is, or our image of what a "real" man does. The problem for us many times, I believe, is that we have clouded our minds with the world's view of what a real man truly is. We've allowed the world's standards (if we could go so far as to call them that) to be mingled with God's standards, and so we arrive at some hybrid definition of what men are supposed to be. But when we really think about this, I don't know a man alive who would claim that those in Scripture weren't "real men". I'd even go so far as to say that many of us would, rightfully, call them our examples of what we should be; but how many of us believe our own claims? What I mean is, how many of us show we truly want to be like these men of the Bible by actually living like them, striving after God, obeying God's word completely? Here is God's standard of what a man is: a doer of the Word.

Look to Noah, Job, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, David, Josiah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, the Apostles, Barnabas, Stephen, Timothy, Silas, and the list goes on; but ultimately, this list is crowned with the greatest Man of all time, Jesus Christ.

Think for a moment about these men...what do they all have in common?

These all followed God faithfully and stood firm.

When we are doers of God's Word as men, that means we're living up to the standards of our Creator; the very One who gave us life, the very One who created man and woman, the very One who gave each their roles in life. Doesn't it just make sense, then, that the One who created man gets to define what constitutes a man?

When we're obeying God, well then we're really "manning up" and we're a "real man"; so what the world tosses up as pattern for what men should be needs to be left in the refuse pile to be burned up along with all the other perversions of the world. When we stop using the world's "standards" then we're free to truly start being men, the men that God created us to be.

What about you, men? Will you step up to the challenge and seek to be God's man (like the men listed above)? Or are you going to be a spiritual sissy by falling down on your role as a man of God, have a defeatist attitude about God's word, choosing instead to cling to the world's view of a man?

Being a man of God is tough, but it results in eternal life.

Being what the world calls a man is no challenge at all and it results in eternal damnation.

Let's not be spiritual sissies; no friend, instead let's "man up!" God's way and meet our responsibilities according to God's word.

Like Joshua, let's lead our household and others to serve the Lord:

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 NKJV

Because of Joshua's steadfast leadership and consistent faith in God, he led a whole nation to serve God all his days - now that's a man! What about you? Will you be a man - a real man of God - like Joshua? Or will you be a spiritual sissy and give up the fight and give in to the world?

Spiritual sissy, or man of God? You choose.