Quit You Like Men!

In today's perverse culture, manly, Christian men are about as hard to come by as gold in a coal mine. Boys are not being taught what true manhhood is anymore. They no longer look to God's all-sufficient Word as the basis of their lives.They reject the calling God has given them in the Bible - the shirk their responsibilty to be courageous, Christ-honoring men in a crooked world. The black consequence of this is that we seldom have true men these days - we have boys in men's bodies. We have immature adults who have embraced the world's philosophy and shunned the command which Paul sets forth to us in I Corinthians 13:16: "Watch ye, standfast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Our society is not raising men according to that standard. It is instead raising men to be wimpy, spiritually barren, and self-pleasing - in short, totally useless for the work which God has called them to. Many Christians, too - and not only men - have been drawn into this deadly trap. They become sluggish in their spiritual lives - they are not watchful concerning their souls - they waver in the faith, and do not stand fast when the world plies assault after assault on them - they do not behave with manly vigor and faith when the devil challenges them - they are not strong in Christ. Such are the dire results of not following God's express guidelines in this matter. Just as plants deprived of water wither, so men deprived of God's Word wither, not only physically, but spiritually as well. A society bereft of God is a society doomed to fail.

Today, godly men are needed more than ever. As boys and young men, we should be preparing ourselves to fulfill the calling God has given us. The first and greatest step in that is to diligently drill ourselves in the Scriptures, that we may be prepared to confront Satan head-on and give and answer for our faith (1 Peter 3:15) - how can a soldier hope to cope with his enemies if he wears not armor and bears not a sword and shield? Weapons are requisite to battle, and since this life is a battle, the Bible must be our sword (Hebrews 4:12). When the Scriptures are our foundation, everything else will follow swiftly. But neglect that first step and your efforts are to no effect.

This is by no means an exhaustive commentary on this subject. But God's word is. It gives us many express teachings on the subject - Psalm I for instance - and provides us with myriad examples of men who fulfilled their God-given calling - Moses, Joshua, Abraham, Isaac, David, Noah, Paul, Peter, and John are only a few such men. We should strive to be such soldiers of God as were these, sinful as they were, sinful as we are. By the blood of Christ we are cleansed, and in the Bible we find our armaments and marching orders. Therefore let us watch, stand fast in the faith, be strong in Our Lord, and with God's help quit ourselves like the men He wants us to be!

"Give us Men!

Men- from every rank,

Fresh and free and frank;

Men of thought and reading,

Men of light and leading,

Men of loyal breeding,

The nation's welfare speeding;

Men of faith and not of fiction,

Men of lofty aim in action;

Give us Men - O say again,

Give us Men!

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Give us Men!

Strong and stalwart ones;

Men whom purest honor fires,

Men who trample self beneath them,

Men who make their country wreath them

As her noble sons,

Worthy of their sires;

Men who never shame their mothers,

Men who never fail their brothers,

True, however false are others:

Give us Men - I say again,

Give us Men!

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Give us Men!

Men who, when tempest gathers,

Grasp the standard of their fathers

In the thickest fight;

Men who strike for home and alter,

(Let the coward cringe and falter),

God defend the right!

Truth as truth the lorn and lonely,

Tender, as the brave are only;

Men who tread where saints have trod,

Men for for Country, Home, - and God:

Give us Men - I say again - again -

Give us Men!"

~Josiah Gilbert Holland

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"A bold Christian is the highest style of a man." ~Thomas Young

Persevero,

Scribe