A Man’s Man

  What is it that makes a man? The answers through the years and cultures have been varied. We believe being able to lift hundreds of pounds, being gruff, being married, having children and ruling them with a rod of iron, and being looked up to as a tough individual are all qualifications to be a man.

  While it is not bad to be strong physically (because it will help you provide for your family at work as well as in the home), also there is nothing wrong with being married and having kids (though ruling with a rod of iron with no compassion will lead to rebellion), and while being tough is needed in some situations, I believe that one of the most neglected qualities needed to be a man’s man is love.

  I can hear the moans already for often when we think of love we think of this gushy feeling that is just for babies and emotional women. “I’m a man and I’m tough I don’t need love,” is often what we think. The truth is, however, that true love requires some of the strongest men in this world to be shown properly. This is because love is not just a feeling but an action you have chosen to show to somebody else no matter what may happen in life. True love is an action which produces proper feelings.

  I Corinthians 13 shows us how strong we have to be in order to show a proper love. Every time the word charity is used it is talking about what true love will do and how tough it is.

I Corinthians 13:4-13 – “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

  With just a casual reading of these verses you find out that true love is long-suffering, is kind, is not envious, does not seek self-glory, is not full of itself, behaves itself, does not care for self-first, is not quick to a fight, does not desire harm to others, dwells in righteousness, is tough, and never fails. Wow!! What a list. Love is not just a gushy feeling but an action that takes strong individuals to be shown properly.

  What does it take to be a man? It takes men who are submitted to the Lord God Almighty and willing to let His love shine through them toward other people. It will require you to deny yourself and think of others first. Be a man of true love and you will indeed be a man’s man.