~1 Corinthians 16:13
My friend Vince Miller is the founder and president of an organization called, Resolute for Men out of St. Paul Minnesota. To name an organization Resolute piqued my curiosity so I did what any good leader would do—I Googled it!
Once I read the online definition of resolute I wholeheartedly agreed. Resolute is an adjective meaning, “admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering.” Purposeful.
Determined.
Unwavering.
I bet the Apostle Paul would agree when he penned, “Stand firm. Let nothing move you” (1 Corinthians 15:58—NIV).
Nothing.
A male’s faith ebbs and flows with the latest trends, and cultural norms, and relevant church ideals. Not a man. A man stands firmly on his faith. He is rock solid is what he believes and lives it out boldly. Males stand on shifting sand. Men stand on the rock.
He challenges modern thought with a resolute faith in Jesus. He stands firm because he’s never dug in trying to defend his faith. No, he stands his ground because his life is committed to pushing back the darkness, and the only way to do so is one life at a time. You can’t beat him. He’ll die before he surrenders.
Where some oscillate he is resolute.
If you read, “stand firm” in this passage as a defensive posture, then you’re reading it all wrong. In Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Leon Morris writes, “The words ‘stand firm in the faith’ point to the stability of the Christian firmly grounded in Christ.”
I once had a three-hour meeting with a very broken man who later confessed that he came to impress me with a lot of Bible verses, but his life and faith spoke contradictory to his Bible knowledge. We cut through that real quick and got the heart of the matter—his oscillating faith.
He left on solid ground.
What is your faith posture? Would those you love say it is solid, immovable, and resolute? Or is your faith soft, weak, and oscillating? Step into the best version of you. Dig your feet in, draw a line in the sand and start taking ground now.
