1 Corinthians 16:13 - "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."
I keep turning to that verse tonight. Be strong. And I'm trying to be strong, but being strong sucks. Being weak is so much easier.
I just want to take a moment to thank every guy I've talked with and spent time with during the past couple days. You know who you are, and you're probably not reading this. That verse doesn't say to be a man of courage, it says men. God requires brotherhood from us: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)
See, when I'm struggling with something, there are usually only a few people I will talk to about it. Or rather, I will usually only talk to a few people about it - there are more than a few people I go to with my problems, just not all at the same time and not with the same sorts of problems. But lately, I've been telling a bunch of people, people who deal with the same problems, and who can help me out.
Proverbs 17:17 - "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
God gave us our friends, our brothers, so that they can be there for us when we're down, and help us through difficult times. It is their purpose, the function of the relationship. We are a support system when necessary. I have a support system. And not only did God design that system, he actually demands that we use it. It's the law. The Body of Christ is not an idea; it is a requirement.
In some roundabout way of reasoning, this brings me to the subject of man hugs.
I feel like men deal with a lot of stuff that needs to to be discussed and worked through, but rarely ever is due to pride or modesty ("modesty" in this case being simply a euphemism for the fear of potential embarrassment). It is important to deal with man stuff, because we need to be reassured of our masculinity. If we're not, we become overly hostile and begin making bizarre efforts to prove ourselves worthy in the eyes of. . .well, anyone who's willing to pay attention. This is not a good thing for the masculine soul or, really, society in general. It's how wars get started.
Which is why I believe that men need, in the words of Entourage's Ari Gold, to "hug it out" a lot more. And I don't mean with those "man hugs." Somehow America has developed some social stigma about male contact. John Eldredge has written about our culture's current attempts to emasculate men, be it through the treatment and punishment of boys who play a little too rough at recess, or through the constant encouragement of metro- and homo-sexuality in the media. Every now and then I really do feel I'm hearing the message that I'm wrong because I'm not gay. (Note that I do not use encouragement synonymously with condoning or acceptance, which would have vastly different implications.)
But whatever it is, there is definitely something rotten in the state of male relationships. What happened to brotherhood? Where is that brutal honesty we so desperately need to hear in order to improve ourselves and actually become the men we want so much to be? Why can't we be aggressive without being disgustingly competitive? It is possible to be real men without being jerks? It is possible to really hug real men without being gay? Why can't there be some sort of middle ground? Because we're men, and we grow up in a world telling us that if we don't take an extreme position, we're not strong enough to survive in it.
But the Biblia tells us something different. It tells us to stand on that middle ground. We're supposed to be there for each other. That is strength. 1 Corinthians 16:13 says to be men of courage, to be strong. Do you know what 1 Corinthians 16:14 says? "Do everything in love." And those two sentences are the whole paragraph. That is the entire thought, and ultimately the point I'm trying to make. By loving each other, we are strong. By loving each other, we are men. And we can hug each other more than we do.
So thanks to all my brothers for being men, and keeping me strong right now.
Much love, and a big strong bear hug.
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