Week of November 3-9
Be that man! – Man as Battle Buddy
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV
My Battle Buddy, Dr. Stu Weber, writes that “Real men stand together. We need to start thinking that way. Real men need one another. Real soldiers love each other.” As a U.S. Army veteran awarded three bronze stars serving as a Green Beret in Vietnam, Stu also likes to point men to a book by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway, who capture that love powerfully in their prologue to We Were Soldiers Once…and Young:
We were the children of the 1950s and we went where we were sent because we loved our country. … We went to war because our country asked us to go, because our new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered us to go, but more importantly because we saw it as our duty to go. That is one kind of love. Another and far more transcendent love came to us unbidden on the battlefields, as it does on every battlefield in every war man has ever fought. We discovered in that depressing, hellish place, where death was our constant companion, that we loved each other. We killed for each other, we died for each other, and we wept for each other. And in time we came to love each other as brothers. In battle our world shrank to the man on our left and the man on our right and the enemy all around. We held each other’s lives in our hands, and we learned to share our fears, our hopes, our dreams as readily as we shared what little else good came our way. It’s always been that way. Real soldiers stand together.
The apostle Paul urged the church in Ephesus—people of God he was privileged to know and influence—to be the sort of Christ-followers God intended them to be. We should endeavor to be the kind of men whose Christian character is beyond reproach, whose lives are a stellar example of Christ’s humility, gentleness, and patience. This brings the unity necessary to convince a lost world that we are true followers of Jesus Christ.
May we emulate Paul, who loved the Ephesians enough to encourage them to maintain the unity of the Sprit in the bond of peace. May we be a Battle Buddy to the men we know, especially those with whom we serve God in the church. These men, like us, need to be reminded from time to time that we are called to follow Christ, no matter what the world does or says. These men, like us, need a friend to walk with them through the challenges of life. When we stumble, we all need a friend who can pull us up and knock off the dust of failure and despair. Be the kind of friend who stands side-by-side with other men and does what it takes to help them get back on their spiritual feet. God calls us to be Battle Buddies for one another. Will you step up and be that man?
- Are you currently serving as a Battle Buddy to another man of God? If so, are you making the lasting influence you should make in his life?
- How do you and your Battle Buddy work together to ensure that neither of you grows weak or vulnerable spiritually? Do you have a system of accountability in place?
- If you don’t have a Battle Buddy, pray and ask the Lord to help you connect on a heart level with another man who is following Jesus. Be that man!
Be that man! – Man as Battle Buddy
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV
My Battle Buddy, Dr. Stu Weber, writes that “Real men stand together. We need to start thinking that way. Real men need one another. Real soldiers love each other.” As a U.S. Army veteran awarded three bronze stars serving as a Green Beret in Vietnam, Stu also likes to point men to a book by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway, who capture that love powerfully in their prologue to We Were Soldiers Once…and Young:
We were the children of the 1950s and we went where we were sent because we loved our country. … We went to war because our country asked us to go, because our new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered us to go, but more importantly because we saw it as our duty to go. That is one kind of love. Another and far more transcendent love came to us unbidden on the battlefields, as it does on every battlefield in every war man has ever fought. We discovered in that depressing, hellish place, where death was our constant companion, that we loved each other. We killed for each other, we died for each other, and we wept for each other. And in time we came to love each other as brothers. In battle our world shrank to the man on our left and the man on our right and the enemy all around. We held each other’s lives in our hands, and we learned to share our fears, our hopes, our dreams as readily as we shared what little else good came our way. It’s always been that way. Real soldiers stand together.
The apostle Paul urged the church in Ephesus—people of God he was privileged to know and influence—to be the sort of Christ-followers God intended them to be. We should endeavor to be the kind of men whose Christian character is beyond reproach, whose lives are a stellar example of Christ’s humility, gentleness, and patience. This brings the unity necessary to convince a lost world that we are true followers of Jesus Christ.
May we emulate Paul, who loved the Ephesians enough to encourage them to maintain the unity of the Sprit in the bond of peace. May we be a Battle Buddy to the men we know, especially those with whom we serve God in the church. These men, like us, need to be reminded from time to time that we are called to follow Christ, no matter what the world does or says. These men, like us, need a friend to walk with them through the challenges of life. When we stumble, we all need a friend who can pull us up and knock off the dust of failure and despair. Be the kind of friend who stands side-by-side with other men and does what it takes to help them get back on their spiritual feet. God calls us to be Battle Buddies for one another. Will you step up and be that man?
- Are you currently serving as a Battle Buddy to another man of God? If so, are you making the lasting influence you should make in his life?
- How do you and your Battle Buddy work together to ensure that neither of you grows weak or vulnerable spiritually? Do you have a system of accountability in place?
- If you don’t have a Battle Buddy, pray and ask the Lord to help you connect on a heart level with another man who is following Jesus. Be that man!