Lead Like Men: ACT

“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13

It can be easy to agree with what is right, but acting on it can be a whole other animal.  Take World War II for instance.  Nearly everyone around the world today will agree; Hitler and his Nazi Germany had to be destroyed.  Roughly six million Jews lost their lives during this wretched time, not to mention all the other individuals around Europe and the world that lost their lives in the war.  Imagine being a good German man, an officer in Germany’s Army.  Was there anything a man like this could really do, except keep his mouth shut and obey?  Colonel Stauffenberg in Hitler’s Nazi Army thought he could do more.

In the well known account of Operation Valkyrie, Colonel Stauffenburg along with the help of several other military and political personnel took an already existing law (Valkyrie – supposed to protect Nazi Germany), changed the wording in it to help their cause, and attempted to assassinate their Fuhrer.  By changing the language in the law and killing Adolf Hitler, they thought they had a chance at taking over the government in order to stop the bloodshed.  The Colonel planted a bomb in his brief case and proceeded to a meeting with Hitler and many other military personnel.  The plan was to kill Hitler, fly back to Berlin, and with the authority from the changes made to Valkyrie, arrest the Gestapo and take control of the government.  The action had unmerciful consequences if they failed.  Yet it was the determination of the men involved to do everything they could to leave a better legacy for their country.  They failed and were executed; yet they died ACTING LIKE MEN.

You are a man.  You have been entrusted with leading your family and congregation.  You have found that it is imperative that you remain on the alert to protect your physical and spiritual families.  You are a man that will stand firm in the faith.  Yet none of this is useful if you do not act like a man!  When the hardest thing to do is the right thing to do, we need to man up and do it…no matter the consequences.  When we think about it, every decision in life has a consequence.  You can prove that you are a man if you make the right decision, even when the consequence has a chance of being bad.  What are some of these bad consequences?  You might have family and friends ridicule you for taking action when your family is threatened.  You might lose your job if you turn in your boss for doing illegal activity.  You might have an issue with someone retaliating on you for exposing their sin or crime.  Depending on where you are around the world, you might even lose your life for preaching the Gospel.  In the end, no matter what happens, if you act like a man and do what the Lord has asked you to do, nothing can truly hurt you…for your reward will be in heaven.

One of the most depressing, yet inspirational verses in the Bible relating to this is Ezekiel 22:30: “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; BUT I FOUND NO ONE” (emphasis added).  The Lord is looking for men to act like men on behalf of Him…are you going to answer the call?

Men, lead like men!  This can only be done if we ACT.