"Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man"

Now this post was going to be about the end of my class that I've been helping with, and I suppose it still is, in a way. But what really caught my attention was Robert Lewis quoting 1 Kings 2:2 as his final charge to the group.

For context:

"1 As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. 3 Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn," (1 Kings 2:1-3).

These verses were such a good summary for the class. We had been through 24 sessions of this Quest for Authentic Manhood. We had struggled with the truths of Scripture as to what it means to be men. We had laughed at funny stories and cried at sad ones together. We had learned more what it meant to "be a man." It might be cliche, but this class really has changed my life. Most of the students in that class have a deeper desire to be the man God wants them to be. Hearts were touched and changed by the Spirit. I'm so grateful that I was a part of that. As one student told me this evening, "Y'all were tools used by God to perform this work in us." I feel so blessed.

I say these verses were a good summary to the class for a few reasons. First, this was a charge from David to his son. We learned in the class that God has placed us here as fathers to, among many other things, raise up our sons to be men. With all the faults in David's life, he at least ended well with Solomon. Secondly, the charge given, the title of this post, "Be strong therefore, and show yourself a man," speaks to me of the lack of this in our society. As a western world, we have failed in raising "men." There are many that are men physically speaking, but very few noble knights, very few righteous kings, very few real men. "Show yourself a man." Live it out. Lastly, the reason I included verse 3 above is because it tells, in summary, how one can accomplish this feat. "Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies ... " We can be real men by following hard after the Lord and keeping His commands. Mr. Lewis iterates time and again that for a boy to be called to manhood he needs a Code of Conduct, a Transcendent Cause and a Vision of Manhood. His commands can be our Code, His work our cause, and the example Jesus left our vision.

God help me to be the man You need to do Your work. By His grace, I am what I am and hope to continue to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Thank y'all for your time, and I'll try to keep updating this regularly. I am hoping to start the second session of Men's Fraternity out at the prison here in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned for my thoughts on "Winning at Work and at Home."