Today I thought  I would highlight some things from chapter 2 of Why Guys Need God.  This is part of a series I thought I would start so I will try to blog daily about some things I got of reading the book.  

While reading chapter 2 there was a a section that talked about courage.  Many times we think of courage as the Rambo type personality however in reality that is not what courage is about at all.  Here is a quote from the book

Courage is staying faithful to my wife as she is, not as I wish here to be.  Doing my job well as it is, even if it is not what  I wish it to be.  Loving my friends, my parents, and my kids all in the same way.  To be courageous is to resist the sometimes overwhelming temptation to escape, pretend, and fantasize.  pg.29

Biblical courage – true masculine courage-isn’t simply doing the glorious thing but also doing the ordinary, mundane, boring, decidedly inglorious stuff of life. pg. 30

I am not sure what has caused us to define courage is such a different way.  many times as men we think courage is that of being some sort of muscle bound person that takes garbage from no one.  However, is this really courage?  How many times do we see men being men of courage.  Not courage as the world defines it but courageous biblically not afraid to live out what God’s word tells us.  I know I need some work in this area of courage.  I pray God will help me be that man of courage that I need to be for my family, and friends, and those that know me.  

However the book does not stop there it goes on to point out some other things that really hit me hard.

Selfishness works against love, freedom, and courage, convincing me that my own wants, needs, fears, and preferences come first.  It takes God-filled courage to lay those things down for the sake of another. pg.33

We were told early and often to “quite being such a baby.”  But we cannot be the strong rescuers of others until we see that we ourselves are in need of rescue.  We cannot be strong until we admit that we are not strong.  Until we are broken, our lives will be self-serving, self-reliant, ad self-absorbed. pg.34

This totally blew me away.  How often allow my own selfishness to take control.  I want others to see love through me and to have that “God-filled” courage.