Man up.
What those two words really tell us is to hold ourselves to a standard. Don’t lower the bar when the road we’ve chosen becomes difficult to walk.
We fall in love with the perfect person, and after we tie the knot, we begin to see the flaws that were invisible in our first flush of passion. Man up, dudes and chicks! Your commitment is still in play!
Our son sinks into drugs, and he wreaks havoc on our life. He steals from us, fractures our relationship with our spouse, and undermines us financially. We want him gone. We have to man up and maintain our commitment. We’re the only hope he has.
Our pastor stumbles, and the church becomes divided. We tire of explaining why we continue worshipping at a flawed fellowship. We want to find a better church. Man up! Christ didn’t cast aside sinners because they weren’t perfect. He drew them in so he could minister unto them.
We have to be better than we are in order that others might see us living out the love of Christ to those around us.
1 Timothy 3:1-2 sets our goal, telling us that if we desire a high office in the Church, we must set our personal standards high and never falter.
Why? People are watching us. They expect more of us. Our failure will do more damage, because we’re more visible.
Who watches our marriage fall apart and sees that hallowed institution as a joke and a sham?
Who watches us cast aside our children and decides he has no responsibility to his own?
Who watches us abandon our fellowship and decides church hopping is the way to search for spiritual truth?
We have to man up to our aspirations. Whether marriage, children, or our chosen fellowship, when we make a commitment, it’s long term. To cast it carelessly aside is to cause others to stumble on our fractured and broken standards.
Instead we must set the example that God’s Word espouses. We must hold him high in everything we do.
When we stand for our commitments, we lift Jesus before the world.
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