THE MARK OF A MAN

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.