01/06/2026
I have never done this before, but my devotional message yesterday contained a gem that our society today seems to have lost. I received a nice email from Lou who is a wonderful friend, wife to Jack, mother of five daughters, woman that has worked a lifetime alongside her husband, and a saint who is now in her later years of life; I want to share her note with you, along with my reply to her. Here is what she wrote to me regarding my grandfather’s saying (A man is only as good as his word) that I shared briefly with you in yesterday’s devotional titled “The Revelation of Answered Prayer.”
Lou wrote:
“That must have been your West Virginia grandpa! Growing up, I heard it over and over again, “a man is only as good as his word" & "his word is his bond." I never really knew what it meant, but I realized men had some sort of standard to meet in order to be respected. Mountain folk were hardliners ... No grey areas. You were either an alright person or a low-down one.” - Lou
And here is my reply to her...
“Lou,
I had both of those sayings drilled into me. I actually heard this from grandfathers on both sides. I think it was that generation of men; they believed in such things as truthfulness, courage, honor, and self-sacrifice. These kinds of things don’t get much play these days but are virtues worth reviving. These are attributes that lay a good foundation on which to build things like families, countries, economies, and our faith. They are core principles that used to be taken for granted but are now scoffed at and called old fashioned. Jesus exhibited them, and never really needed to call them out much... they were known by all men (even those who chose not to exhibit them), and their worth was taken for granted. These traits were the gold standard of manhood.
Rich”
So here are a few more of my thoughts on this subject...
I thought this exchange was valuable enough to share with you this morning, and I hope it will help spark some thought, discussion, and a return of the gold standard of manhood and the wisdom of being a woman. Here are some additional thoughts regarding today’s society and the confusion and struggle going on within it regarding our sexuality.
The world could use a return to what God intended for us to be as men and women... and our faith could benefit from this as well. You see, being a Christian man is not about a man becoming feminized... any more than it is about a Christian woman becoming masculine. A man exhibiting meekness and humility is a man who has bridled the wild nature within himself... not a broken man who has lost his male nature completely... it is about weaving Christ into the strength of his manhood, and as for women, it is about folding their faith into the loving nature of their womanhood. It takes strong and loving people to serve God as true men and women... and to enter into healthy God fearing and defined relationships with one another. Are we living our lives as God would have us live them?
For Men:
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV
For Women:
“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
Proverbs 31:26,30 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for making us man and woman, and I thank you for the intrinsic and holy nature of each. Father, you give us characteristics that without you, and your Son Jesus Christ, would become our downfall, but you have tempered them through your Word and made them good and pleasing in your eyes through Christ. You have taken the raw material of our human nature and formed it into something of great value and beauty. When Cain slew Abel it was the result of his manly aggressiveness which had lost (or never found) its restraint and temper in you... just as the example of David not slaying Saul was manhood bound by the restraint you had taught him. Holy Father, teach me to be a man, and my sisters to be women. Our society is so lost in its sexuality today and wanders to and fro trying to define itself. Bring us back to you Father and teach us how to live as men and women in Christ; show us that abandoning our sexual natures is not the answer and serves only to become a detriment to us as individuals, a people, and as Christians. I praise you Father for your will, and desire for us to be men and women without losing sight of you in the process. Thank you for teaching us to bridle our natures and to make them into the perfect image that reflects your Word and will. Merciful Father, forgive us for losing our way, and restore us to our rightful roles in your eyes. We were different at creation, and at the moment you judged Adam and Eve, and we are different today; teach us through your Word who we are, and how you would have us behave, and as you do we will honor and praise you for our lives as true men and women of faith.
“To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you." And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."”
Genesis 3:16-19 ESV
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes