One of my favorite Bible verses for men is found in the book of Job. Near the end of Job’s trials, after all of his friends had tried to “comfort” him and counsel him, God finally showed up on the scene in a whirlwind (a tornado!) In Job 38:3, God said to Job, “Now gird up your loins like a man….” Put in today’s vernacular, He was saying “MAN UP!” I asked some men at a Bible Study, “If God came to you and said ‘Man Up’ what would you assume about yourself at that moment?” One man answered, “I would assume that I had not been acting like a man.” Exactly! So, the question arises: “What does a real man look like and act like?” Over the past decades I have heard clichés like “REAL MEN don’t eat quiche,” “REAL MEN don’t cry,” “REAL MEN don’t drive mini-vans,” etc. etc. I’m not really interested in what another person’s definition of a REAL MAN is … I just want to know what God’s definition of a REAL MAN is. After all, He’s the one that created the very first man, Adam, so I think He would know exactly what a REAL MAN is supposed to be since He designed him. If I understand the creation of the first man correctly here are a few things I believe God considers a REAL MAN to be:
1. Somebody who reflects God’s image and glory on the Earth – (after all, God did say “Let us make man in our own IMAGE” Genesis 1:26).
2. Somebody who has power and authority over his domain – (“…and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth…” Genesis 1:26)
3. Somebody who is fruitful and duplicates/replicates himself in the Earth – (and God said “Be fruitful and multiply…” Genesis 1:28)
4. Somebody who knows how to work hard and to protect what’s been given to him – (“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” Genesis 2:15)
So, armed with this understanding, here’s what a REAL MAN looks like: A person who looks like and acts like God no matter what He’s facing in life … A person who carries a presence of authority and power, and doesn’t go around acting like he’s been beat up and taken advantage of in life … A person who is interested in producing and raising up a generation who will follow in his footsteps and pick up where he leaves off … and a person who is not afraid of hard work, who can protect and defend what God gives him. When God sees any man behaving in a fashion that is beneath these attributes of a REAL MAN, He has the right to say to them “MAN UP!”
Psalm 8:4-5
“What is MAN that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.”
