How does a male become a man? What separates the “big boys” from the men?
As a culture, we do not talk much about masculinity. We are not teaching our boys how to be men. We are seeing more passive males and fewer masculine men.
I share my understanding of Biblical masculinity in this online article:
(Click on the title above, or click HERE.)
Will you join me in saluting masculine men?
Blessings to you,
Tami
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I often need to recall the basics. Here are the basics of love, as spoken to us by Love Himself, paraphrased by Eugene Peterson. My favorite line is near the end:
Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut, …
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, …
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. …
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Here’s one more reminder: No prayer call this week. But be sure to join us for next week’s call on Thursday, April 30.
Until then, I want to keep focusing on the basics: “Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.”
Blessings to you,
Tami
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Scripture taken from The Message (MSG). Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.
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Here is an amazing verse:
Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10, NIV)
That is not only a command and a statement, but it is also a promise!
God is full of love, and He is also full of joy. Not only is He the greatest Lover, but He is also the most joyful Person in the universe. His love and His joy are woven together.
We tend to think that if we have joy, then we can love others. But I think it really works the other way around: if we love, then we can have joy. When we give to others, we gain joy.
The exhaling of love allows the inhaling of joy.
But there is more! I think there is something else involved in this giving and this joy—something that is very important but often overlooked:
While godly love is a commitment to give, it is also a commitment to enjoy. Part of loving our spouses well is enjoying them–enjoying who they are. God does that for us, and we can do that for others. God delights in us, and we can choose to delight in others.
So I guess we can say that this, too, is a giving because we are giving the gift of enjoying. When someone enjoys who you are, isn’t that like a gift to you?
Very often, our joy in marriage is lacking because our commitment to enjoying our spouses is lacking. We think that enjoyment should simply come to us. It’s great when that happens, but sometimes we must make the decision—the determination even—to enjoy someone. After we take the challenge to enjoy, we can pray for eyes to see past faults and past behaviors to the core treasure of someone. We can pray to see more of what God sees and more of what God delights in.
Enjoying our spouse is part of our love. That is part of what we give. And when we give the way God does, then we have the joy that God has. Then we have the joy of the Lord as our strength.
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Tami Myer 