We are not to be strong, brave, and courageous for ourselves but for everyone around us. We are called as men to be the first sufferers, to have our lives and strength poured out on behalf of the weak, the needy, the hurt, the orphan. Men throughout Scripture were men full of the Spirit, living completely surrendered and dependent upon God, and whose lives demonstrated the most incredible feats because they proven strong and courageous. Perhaps the call to act as men sounds negative and detrimental – since the standard of masculinity has fallen through the floor – but I don’t exhort individuals to andrizomai according to the standard of today’s male but according to the standard set forth in the Word. What if we as men began to act as … men? I’m all for being tender and compassionate when it is needed but we must also be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6.10). In all cases, the call is to rise up and show oneself strong and valiant. But there were those who andrizomai’d, as the King James so eloquently states “quit themselves like men,” rushed the beach, and found themselves brave and courageous.ġ Corinthians 16.13 commands: “Be watchful, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Some translations translate andrizomai: be brave, be courageous, quit you like men. When the soldiers were storming the shores of Normandy with bullets flying everywhere, many were found crouched behind rocks crying out for mommy – not quite a picture of authentic manhood. It has the idea of to show oneself a real man, to be brave, to do what a man ought to do, to show yourself courageous, to rise up. It only appears once in Scripture but it is packed with substance. One of my new favorite words in Greek is andrizomai. Yet both are required for masculinity and both are essential for Christianity. Our problem is we are usually hard when we need to be soft and soft when we need to be hard. Yes we are to be tender, caring, and compassionate when it is called for, but we are also to be strong, valiant, honorable, daring, and courageous as well.Īs my friend Eric Ludy recently described it, men are to be men of steel (hard and strong) AND men of down (soft and tender). Yet in our culture today it is the softer side of life that is highlighted and honored, resulting in a pansy version of men and Christianity. If I may speak to men for just a moment (though ladies this all applies to you as well*) – we are to be a poet (the softer side) and not just a warrior (the harder side). I will quickly admit there is a softer side to life – the poetic, tender, caring, compassionate side.
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