The 5 Most Manly Things Real Men Do

Wouldn’t you like to know what God sees when He looks at you? The world might see you and you might even see yourself, as just a farmer, or a teacher, or a mechanic, a truck driver, a student, or a pastor, a trapper, an athlete, or a government employee of some sort, but the real question is, “What does God see when He looks at you?” I can guarantee you that God sees more in you than the world does. Men, could it be, that when He looks at us, He sees mighty men of valor waiting to be set free? And if that’s the case wouldn’t you want to see yourself as God sees you?

There is NO way!

Maybe you are thinking to yourself, “Nope. There’s no way! That’s not what He sees in me. I’ve got nothing to offer. I’ve made a mess of things. I’m just an ordinary guy. What use could I possibly be to God?” And we’re thinking that because somewhere along the way we’ve dropped the ball. We’ve said, “Yes,” when we should have said, “No,” or, “No,” when we should have said, “Yes.” And we fall short in our own eyes of what we dreamed we could be.

But I don’t believe that’s what God sees at all. Look at the people He’s chosen to work through over the years. David, a shepherd boy who becomes a great king and a man after God’s own heart. Elijah – a man just like us who saw God do miracles through him. Joseph, a slave who becomes the second most powerful man in Egypt and through whom God preserves a people. And it’s not just the Old Testament. God specializes in using ordinary people for extraordinary things in the New Testament as well. Mary was a peasant girl, Matthew was a tax collector, Peter was a fisherman, Luke was a doctor and on and on it goes – ordinary men and women chosen by God – but through whom He does extraordinary things.

Gideon

Judges 6:14 … The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

We might consider Gideon a hero of the faith but it’s not because of who Gideon was. It’s because of who God was to Gideon. God believed in Gideon when Gideon didn’t believe in himself. The weakest of the weak, the least of the least, was sent out, in what little strength he had, to save Israel. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? What’s Gideon going to do? One man against a whole people – he doesn’t stand a chance. He doesn’t stand a chance except for this: He is being sent by God. If you stand with God, who can stand against you?

Meet with God

But men, know this: you cannot be sent of God until you have first met with God. Remember in the book of Acts how the disciples are preaching with power and with great authority, they are doing amazing miracles that the crowds are in awe over? Scripture tells us that the crowds saw the power in the disciples lives and they took note that these men – ordinary, unschooled men – had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) We need to be with Jesus before we can be sent by Jesus.

Judges 6:22 … When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. (Judges 6:22-24)

The angel of the Lord is thought to be the pre-incarnate Son of God – Jesus Himself. And, we need to get with Jesus before we can get about doing the Lord’s work.

Get Right With God

We need to get with Him and we need to get right with Him. In the book of 2 Timothy we read these verses: In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:20-26)

The Word of the Lord

Gideon lived out the truth of those words. At the word of the Lord, Gideon starts to clean house. Judges 6:25 … That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.” So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

The Lord’s Choosing

Idolatry had crept, not just into the land of Israel, but also into the house of Gideon’s family. And Gideon, and his father, and everyone else had been just fine with that. It didn’t bother them in the least. But it bothered God and God said, “If you will be a mighty warrior for my name’s sake you need to start by cleaning up your own home. Get rid of that which does not honor Me.” And men, there’s a lot of cleaning that could be done in our homes and in our hearts, and in our attitudes and our behaviors as well.

I know that it’s always easier to point out the faults in the other guy, but God asks us to start with ourselves right where we’re at. If there is sin in your life, if there is godlessness in your home, do away with it and do away with it now! If you don’t, then you are choosing to remain in bondage, you are choosing to be powerless, you are choosing to be of little use to the Lord, you are choosing to never be that mighty man of valor that God knows you could be if you would only give it all over to Him.

What?

And look what happens. When Men of God, turn to the God of Men, and take a stand for Him, when they begin to get right with God, other men, who have dreamed big things for God will get on board and will follow them. Gideon goes to take down the altar to Baal and there are 10 men willing to follow him. He’s no longer alone. Not only is God with him, but other men of God are with him now as well! And if we kept reading we would see that his father is inspired by Gideon’s example and also takes a stand for God. The house of Joash is going to get right with God!

It’s an awesome thing! Men of God inspire others to seek the God of Men and to live their lives for Him. If we were to read even further we would find that soon there were 32,000 men who were willing to follow Gideon’s example and stand for the Lord. 32,000 and it all started with one man who was willing to walk by faith! And throughout Gideon’s lifetime the nation as a whole followed God, but Scripture tells us that when Gideon’s time came, no sooner had he died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. (Judges 8:33) Brothers, never underestimate what God can do through even just one man who has their heart set on living for Him!

What Men Want

Men, in our own ways we each want to be something more than we are. Deep down we know we were created for more than this world calls us to. In our heart of hearts we want to be heroes, not just in the eyes of those we love, but in the eyes of our God as well. We want to know that our lives mattered, that they counted for something. And I don’t believe for a moment that we have a lot of good role models around in our society these days who we can look to, to see what it means to be a man. The heroes of this world are actors and musicians and athletes.

These are The 5 Most Manly Things a Mighty Man Does

But the most manly thing a man can do is not to act, or to make music, or to play games. It’s not to break horses, or fix a piece of machinery. The 5 most manly things a Man can do are:

• To stand for the Lord when the world turns away.
• To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength when the world ridicules you and resists you every step of the way.
• It’s to walk closely with God and to lead our families in the ways of the Lord.
• To love our wives and to raise our children well.
• It’s like Gideon, to move beyond our fears and to boldly live out our faith knowing that God is with us, that He sees in us more than we could ever really imagine because He sees in us His Son.

And in truth this is what you were created for – to be a hero of the faith – to be strong in the Lord. This is what you are called to and this is what we can be by the hand of Almighty God!

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Eduardo Quintana is also featured as an author on Lightworkers Media