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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
"A Real Man"
As a fifteen-year-old I desperately wanted to be “six foot two and 180 pounds.” That was my idea of a “real man.” In case you haven’t noticed, the 180 pounds came easily, but the “six foot two” – well it never happened.
Like most young boys, I wanted to grow up fast and have people look at me as a “man.” One way to do so was to be an athlete and walk with the pretty girls. I was pretty scrawny in those days, but I learned how to do some of those things pretty well. Some took notice, but it only made me a “male,” not a “man.”
It didn’t take me long to hear the big boys “cuss,” using words my Daddy did not allow. It occurred to me that “cussing” added nothing to my stature, so I stayed away from that, but I still wanted to me a “man,” and kept looking for the answer.
Down on the old Jacksboro Highway were some shady places that sold beer and hard liquor. That was another thing Daddy did not allow. To hear the big boys talk you had to drink beer to be a “man,” but you did not have to watch them very long to see that beer made them act more like fools than “men.”
A friend of mine began to wear a tee shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing his muscles. He looked real “cool”, but when I rolled up my sleeves there wasn’t much to see.
It took me a while, but I learned that being a “man” did not come from smoking, beer, muscles, athletics or talking to the girls. It came from something inside, something that spelled “character,” not “tough.” I began to look for some guys that had that character, that were “real men,” not just pretenders.
Do you know where I first learned what a “real man” is? It was when I studied my Bible. I found those who had that “character” I was looking for, who had something inside that guided them, not just catching or hitting a ball, not just some external quality. They had something that motivated them to do the right thing, the best thing for themselves as well as for others.
Joseph Was a “Real Man”
How would you react to the situation in which Joseph was thrust? Hated by his brothers, he was sold into slavery in a foreign land and put in prison for something he did not do. Yet, in all that, Joseph did not lose that “character” that makes a male a “real man.”
When he realized his father would not be able to rescue him from his captors, he did not cave in, but determined to do what his father would want him to do. When tempted by a woman to commit fornication, Joseph said,
“.. how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9.
Many today might say fornication is the way to become a “real man,” but Joseph knew better. Sin never makes anyone a “real man.”
Micaiah Was a “Real Man”
Years before Micaiah was born, God inspired Moses to write, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,” Exodus 23:2. Being God’s prophet, it was Micaiah’s duty to say what God wanted him to say. In 1 Kings 22, Ahab and Jehoshaphat were considering going to war against an enemy. Ahab told his “prophets” to lie, saying God wanted them to go to war. Micaiah was God’s prophet, not Ahab’s. Note his response to Ahab’s demand:
“As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak,” 1 Kings 22:14.
He stood alone before the wrath of the king, but he did not waver or hesitate. Truly, he was a “real man.”
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Were “Real Men”
They had enjoyed positions of honor, but now they faced a fiery furnace, heated seven times greater than before, Daniel 3:19. What must they do to avoid this fate? Merely bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. They refused, making the King furious. He gave them a second chance to obey, and their response to the King’s threats reveals true manhood, real courage:
“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up,” Daniel 3:17-18.
They knew what God could do, but even if He did not deliver them, they would not bow down to the image because God had forbidden it, Exodus 20:5. They were “real men.”
These Deserve Our Respect Today
- Every young man or woman who refuses to dress in the immodest fashions of today.
- Men, whether old or young, whose speech is in harmony with what a Christian should speak, rejecting profanity, Colossians 4:6.
- Elders of the Lord’s church who use God’s Word to stop the “mouth” of those who embrace false doctrine, Titus 1:11.
- Parents who teach their children early in life to do what is right and refuse that which is wrong, and then live in harmony with what they teach, Ephesians 6:4.
- Bible teachers who study, prepare and teach God’s truth to their students.
- Husbands who truly “love” their wives and treat them with respect, Ephesians 5:25.
God needs more “real men” — and “real women!”
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“One man with courage makes a majority.”
“Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.”
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God's Protective Wing
A story in National Geographic several years ago gives us a beautiful and penetrating picture of God’s protective wings covering His children. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, the ranger reached out to knock the bird over with a stick. As he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety, but she refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze reached her, the heat had scorched her small body, but the mother had remained steadfast because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings had lived.
The Psalmist beautifully illustrates God’s protective love and care for each of us in Psalm 91:4 NKJV when he says, “He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge..”
As His children, let us remember the One who truly loves us (Romans 5:5-10), and then be different from the masses of the world because of that love (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
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