This blog is mostly addressed to men. This is not because of any view I have on gender roles, but because I feel uncomfortable trying to define what I believe to be the "essence" of the female heart. You see, I have spent far too little time being a girl to take on such a task. So, while I don't think there's any reason a girl shouldn't read this, it is not specifically written to "the ladies".
I ate half of a jalapeno once. I sweated and gargled milk for two hours afterwards. My sister and her fiance were pretty amused by that - almost as amused as I had been, only a little while earlier, watching Marines and college frat members and sexy girls chew on ghost peppers in YouTube videos. For some reason, watching them suffer had inspired me to add, "Eat a ghost pepper" to my bucket list. Because I've never been very good with spicy things, I decided to start with a jalapeno and work my way up.
One trip to the supermarket and a gallon of milk later, I scribbled the entry from my list. Some goals are simply not worth suffering for.
Since whenever it was that people began deciding who was or wasn't "The Man", strength has been the prime factor in measuring masculinity. Whoever killed the mammoth was "The Man"; and it was his stick figure that folks etched onto the cave wall. Whoever's kung fu was the most potent got bragging rights; and his family was respected. The one with the most notches carved into his gun was "The Man"; and no one asked about the fact that he rarely spoke.
Now I'm going to say something that might surprise you:
I think there's some validity to that standard.
When I consider the most admirable men I can think of, "strength" always finds its way into that list of things which make them admirable. This is true in my personal list of "My Favourite Guys"; it also seems to be true of the men Christendom supports. In the Bible, we read of people like Samson and David (not to mention his mighty men). We look up to Paul, who, after being stoned to death, stood up and walked back into the city from which he had just been driven. Christ's torture and death speak volumes to the strength He carried. In church history, there are people like Saint Lawrence, who called from the gridiron upon which he was being burned to death, "Turn me over! This side's done!".
However, we've all seen gyms full of meatheads who aren't, by anyone's standard, real men. Just as we are not body only, strength is not bodily only. So, there is an internal strength that we must account for.
By "internal strength", I do not mean simply the presence of good characteristics, but the potency, longevity and durability these characteristics have. After all, that's what strength is, isn't it? It's the ability to affect things around you, to last in whatever circumstance, and to "take a beating" (or go without things that others might depend on).
Martin Luther King, Junior was forgiving and peaceable. So are countless cowards. The thing that set him apart was the depth of his forgiveness and peaceability, as well as his knack for inspiring both in others.
Billy Graham has character; but so do many men. It is that his character has lasted under the limelight for so long that has earned him, an evangelist, the respect of an unbelieving world.
William Lane Craig is intelligent; but it's his ability to stand up under debate which would - and has - crushed other thinkers that has people regarding him as the foremost Christian apologist of our time.
There's more to this, though; strength isn't immune to weakness. It doesn't simply "push through" it, either. Strength allows for vulnerability, and works through the process of overcoming a man's failings. The man who walks on hot coals has accomplished nothing if the nerves in his feet are defective. It is the pain of burning flesh that both demonstrates his strength and enables him to grow through the experience. It seems likely that someone with incredibly sensitive feet would accomplish even more.
So, the emotionally strong man is not he whose heart is numb, but he who (whether by nature or by choice) feels everything and endures the heart's sky-straining highs and abysmal lows. Likewise, the intellectually strong man is not necessarily well-versed in every regard; rather, he studies diligently and acknowledges whatever ignorance he has.
If I am right about all this, strength is not, then, an absolute truth about a physical state. It is, instead, an inside-out condition of the whole human being - body, soul, and spirit, all. If that is true, then no circumstance can keep a person from becoming or remaining strong. If you lose your every physical capacity, there is still a mind, a heart, and a spirit for you to exercise. A man with neither arms nor legs can easily put world-class atheletes to shame if only he refuses to let his handicap rule him.
I believe the Christian man should seek strength of every sort; and he should know, starting out, that he will not attain it all. He should also remember that whatever he does accomplish is by the grace of The Manliest of Them All. What's more, these truths should, far from causing him to question the point of such an endeavour, grant him encouragement. After all, an infinite plane of growth means that he need never cease becoming stronger; and, if the Paragon of Manliness is his benefactor, he has every bit of masculine guidance he could ask for.
-isaac
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