Wanted, Courageous Godly Men

By:  Dale Weckbacher

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

(ESV)

This past weekend I attended a men’s conference, yes they still do happen.  The conference began with a man on the street segment asking people when a boy becomes a man.  The answers ranged from one young boy saying manhood began when a boy received his drivers license to one older gentlemen asking if we were to assume all boys actually mature into manhood.  There was also one lady that said maturing into manhood was not a matter of age.  I believe the biblical answer to this question is found in 1 Corinthians 13:11, boys become men when they put away childish things.

One of the main objections many have to Donald Trump is his strong leadership style and his openly, and not politically correct, speaking out on issues he fervently believes in.  As a strong masculine leader, he speaks out believing he can correct these wrongs if given a chance.  I believe this to be true for if it was not, he most likely would have just kept on running his businesses and stayed out of politics.  It has also been so long since the people of the United States have witnessed strong leadership that I believe it concerns, and even scares them.

However, strong leadership alone is not the only answer for much damage has occurred throughout history from strong tyrannical leaders like Napoleon, Hitler, and most recently Stalin.  What our families, churches, nations, and world needs is strong courageous leaders whose strong leadership is tempered by Godly principles.  Godly men who strongly speak and live the truth but in love (Ephesians 4:14-16). 

To determine how to demonstrate strong leadership tempered by love, let us take a few moments to look at three men in the Bible.

1)      Joshua – Acted as Moses right hand man and was among the twelve spies sent in to spy out the Promised Land (Numbers13:1-24).  Even though the land was fruitful as evidenced by the fruit brought back by the 12 spies, there were also giants in the land causing 10 of the 12 spies to report there was no way they could occupy the land.  Only Caleb and Joshua believed God would be with them and help them occupy the land God had promised (Numbers 13:25-33).  Joshua’s belief that the nation of Israel could move forward and occupy what God had promised came from an unwavering belief in God and a dedication to serve Him (Joshua 24:15).

2)      David – A small shepherd boy is hardly who most of us would pick to defeat a nine-foot-tall giant like Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4).  However, David remembered how his God had helped him protect his father’s flock from lions and bears and told King Saul that the uncircumcised Philistine Goliath was just like these lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:31-36).  With just a sling and a stone, along with faith in God, David prevailed against the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17:50).

3)      Jesus – Jesus, the very Son of God, left the glory of heaven to become a man just like one of us (John 1:14).  However, unlike us, Jesus lived a sinless life while on the earth (Hebrews 4:15).  In addition, not only did Jesus leave the glory of heaven to become like us, he took upon himself all the sins of humanity and died to fulfill the death penalty for our sin (Romans 5:8).  Jesus is therefore the perfect example of courageous, unselfish, and sacrificial leadership.

Our families, our churches, our communities, our nations, and our world need an infusion of courageous Godly leadership.  We need men like Joshua dedicated to serving God no matter how unpopular it may become, with faith that God’s plans will prevail.  We need men like David dedicated to facing down the giants of the main stream media, liberal educators, and liberal government leaders changing our culture and turning it against Godly principles.  We also need servant leaders like Jesus who are willing to abandon their own self interests in the interest of protecting their families, churches, communities, nations, and even the world against ungodliness.

The question facing men reading this is will you become a courageous Godly leader?  The question facing women reading this is will you support the men in your life who volunteer to become courageous Godly leaders?  Please feel free to comment to this post with your decision to become or support courageous Godly leadership.