July 08, 2011
9:04 pm
THE MARK OF A MAN
Elisabeth Elliot
“The world
cries for me who are strong: strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to
suffer.I pray that
you will be that kind of man, glad that God made you a man, glad to shoulder to
burden of manliness in a time when to do will often bring contempt.”
Men and
Women:
-
Equal
in being created
-
Equal
in the image
-
Equal
in moral responsibility
Masculinity
and feminity, being elements of the original design, radiate GLORY. They SHINE.
They are the norms, carrying in themselves something of GOD’S IMAGE.
The woman (ishah). The ancient story:
-
She
was made for the man
-
She
was made from the man
-
she
was brought to the man
-
she
was named by the man
Masculinity
means INITIATION
Feminity
means RESPONSE
A woman
cannot properly be the responder, unless the man is properly the initiator. He
must take the lead in order that she may
follow.
Men were to
hold the position of authority.
Women are the subordinate. Men
represents CHRIST. The man “is the image” of “represents the very person” of
God.
Real women
will always be relieved and grateful when
men are willing to be men.
God looks for
men who will see it for what it is, and in the face of sound ostracism or
scorn, will stand strong with Him.
There are
times when we long for authority,
because we do not know what to do. We’re lost, and we want somebody to show us
the way. We need leadership.
The power of
SERVANTHOOD:
-
it
commands RESPECT
-
it
does not demand it
It takes a
strong man or woman to lay down a life.
A man’s
willingness to offer up his life for his wife, or for anybody else who happens
to need him, is not the end of everything. It’s only the end of himself.
What we are-
men or women- determines what we do.
It is fitting that one should LEAD and
the other FOLLOW.
Trusting God
is doing the greatest thing anybody can do.
Trusting God to take care of your love
life is a rigorous daily exercise of faith.
The Lord has
promises wisdom to all who ask it. He has promised guidance to those who are
willing to accept the way He chooses. He has promised to fulfill the desires of
all who fear Him.
“I sought the
Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my
soul to seek Him, seeking me.
It was not I that found, O Saviour true,
No, I was
found of Thee.”
-
ANONYMOUS
To aim at
loving instead of being loved requires sacrifice.
Love reaches out, willing to be turned down or inconvenienced, expecting no
personal reward, wanting only to GIVE.
The true man
knows when is up against something TOO BIG for him and needs help. He is driven
to the ONLY ONE who knows to love like this, and asks for help, ON HIS KNEES.
A man who is
to be a leader must prepare for leadership, the same way Jesus prepared: BY
BEING WILLING TO SUFFER.
To husband means: to take care of”, “to cherish”. As Christ cherished His own Body- His
Bride- that is- US- so a man cherishes a woman: holds her dear, values her
highly, treats her tenderly.
COURTESY.
Is a
sacrificial symbolism. It’s a gift you offer your wife. Without that offering,
she is not free to be fully a woman, for to be fully a woman means to respond,
to receive, to be asked upon, to follow.
You’ve got to
give her the gift of your MANHOOD- initiating, cherishing, leading.
This is what
women want, in their heart of hearts.
Love is willing to be inconvenienced.
A real woman
is quick to see what is truly ADMIRABLE in another. He identifies with him,
contemplates what made him what he is, and tries to appropriate that man’s
methods to reach his own goals.
God’s man
takes initiative, as he was meant to do, but he is not aggressive.
He is strong,
but not ruthless,
Sure, but not
swaggering,
Heard, if
need to be, but not cruel.
HIERARCHY
Was meant-
not for privilege, prerogative, favoritism, or dominion, but for LEADERSHIP.
And leadership means sacrifice, help uplifting, redemption and
cries.
Leadership is
not meant to exploit, but to lift, not to exterminate, but to rescue, not to
rend, but redeem, not to devour, but to carry, not for primacy, but for
priority.
It means, in
the last analysis, obedience, service, even death, for the sake of others.
-
PT.
Forsyth
If OBEDIENCE
is what marks a man, it can be nothing less than OBEDIENCE that makes a
real woman.
Sometimes
OBEDIENCE means WILLINGNESS to do apparently useless thing, in order that God
may do the great thing.
FORGIVENESS
No marriage
can survive without forgiveness, forgiveness embraces suffering.
Often it is
better just to forgive in your heart before God, and perhaps the will give
opportunity for the person to recognize his wrong without your prompting, and
He will come to you.
TENDERNESS
A man must at
times be hard as nails: willing to face up the truth about himself and about
the woman he loves, refusing compromise when compromise is wrong. But he also
must be TENDER. No weapon will break the armor of a woman’s resentment like
tenderness.
You may not
understand her. You may find her unreasonable and illogical and unsearchable by
any means other than honest tenderness. Is she can believe even for a second or
two, that you really want to understand her, that you are earnestly trying to
see things from her point of view, she will budge. I know, I am a woman, and I
appear unbudgeable to some, but it also know what a man’s arms around me will
do to my defenses.
SACRIFICE
The more
Christ-like the man is, the more it will cost him to make his wife the woman
she ought to be. He knows he’s a long way from perfect, and if he ever tries to
rebuke or exhort, she will probably remind him of this quite pointedly. Recent
sins will provide her with vivid illustrations. It is only honor to be cowed by
such reminders. We are told in the Scripture to consider ourselves before
rebuking someone, for we too, may be tempted to commit the same sin. Yet this
does not excuse us from rebuking.
A faithful
speaking of the truth in love is another thing together. A willingness to be
refined oneself by that. First of love is in a different category.
LOVING or making love
To make love
refers to a performance. It is an act which technically does not require
anything remotely resembling real love.
To love by
contrast, requires leaving the self-behind, abandoning it for the other.
“Love will
not be merely something we ”make” from time to time, but something we live.
Love will be the climate of our homes.”
Having a FAMILY
Being a
Father will put you on your knees if nothing else ever did. It will save you
from yourself, because you are forced to attend to this very small person for
whom you and his mother are responsible.
“We all tend
to be infatuated with the idea of strength- but we fail to recognize that all true strength is grounded with
humility.”
-
E.
Herman
A checklist.. ( for a good wife)
-
feminity
and faith
-
A
real woman
-
Christian
1.
Ought
to be glad, she’s a woman.
She
accepts the place her feminity gives her in God’s world. She knows she was made
for man, from man, brought to man by God, and named by him. she does not covet
the not given.
2.
A
real woman understands that man was created to be the initiator and she operates
on that promise.
3.
A
Christian woman acknowledges Christ as her Lord and Master.
She
is meant to adjust, adapt, submit to, and respect her husband; she seeks to do
those things as to the Lord. To be doing
it for the Lord always changes the picture.
4. Has a sense of humor.. Must know how
to laugh –first of all at herself.
Find
a woman who can see the absurd. Find somebody who does not take herself so
deadly seriously that she has to be always taking about who am I and how am I
relating, and how do I really feel about myself.
5. Ought to be willing to put her husband
and her children first: above her own interests, including a career.
There
is no greater service to humanity than the rearing of a Christian family.
6. A woman who knows that love is not a
feeling.
The
love that sustains a marriage0 and s sustained by marriage itself- has to be
ACTION.
Help him with the checklist (for men)
1.
Be
a man.
It
is in response to the fullest expressions of your manliness that she will be
most womanly. Take the lead with humility and submission to Christ. Be
responsible for her.
2.
Make
her glad she’s a woman.
Notice
things.
Honest
compliment.
Be
courteous.
3.
Understand
that leadership is for her help and redemption and be willing to take charge.
Even if you believe your wife to be your spiritual superior, you are the
appointed priest in your house.
“She believes
if a husband will pray for his wife and the things she is going to do that day,
or if the wife prays for her husband and the things he is going to do, that
marriage will be strengthened as the years go by.”
-
Billy
Graham
4.
Love
her with the love described in 1 Corinthians
5.
Remember
that you are heirs together of the grace of life.
This
is one of the great qualities of the Bible, that men and women, are ALL the recipients
of the GRACE that is greater than all our sin.
