Valor is a word we don’t hear anymore.

The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle.” But I’m not so sure discretion is always the better part of it though.

Because somewhere along the line, we’ve allowed the significance of valor to be buried right along with all those men who wore it as a badge. Many soldiers fought, suffered and died defending truth and righteousness so that freedom might remain a foundation upon which to continue to build the kingdom our Lord Jesus Christ planted during His earthly ministry.

Some fought physical battles, others spiritual. Some were won, some were lost.

But it’s not so important to keep score. The reasons for defending God’s righteousness are more honorable than the results.

In this day and age, valor is critical for Christ’s disciple to demonstrate. It transcends any semblance of being merely brave, determined or chivalrous. These are certainly desirable attributes, but circumstances today call for more potent adjectives.

Jesus needs men who are valiant, gallant and valorous.

Because the man of valor intuitively understands that cowardice, effeminacy and passivity are transgressions before the Lord Jesus Christ and are wholly incompatible with being His disciple.

Jesus wasn’t a coward just because He was God. It was because He never succumbed to the power of sin as a man like you and me.

Rise up O men of God!

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [Rev. 21:8, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ spoken through His messenger to the apostle John]

Learning curves are seldom fun.

But they’re almost always necessary. And becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is no exception. It’s a skill that must be learned and developed just like a trade.

For example, in his letter to the Hebrews, the author admonished the readers for having such a limited understanding of God’s Word that they could only digest it in the form of milk, like infants do:

“For, because of the time [we live in], you all ought to be teachers, [and] you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, having come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not familiar with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

But solid food is for the mature, who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” [Heb. 5:12-14] [my emphasis]

This was very straightforward. The state of their spiritual infancy had become a barrier to their capacity to determine the difference between right and wrong. But the author didn’t present a problem without offering a solution:

“Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of [things such as] repentance from dead works and of faith toward God…” [Heb. 6:1] [my emphasis]

Not being mature enough to develop expertise in anything is a flaw that keeps a man in bondage to his juvenility. I know. I used to be a milk drinker. At one time, I understood a framing square to be a tool used primarily for checking 90 degree angles. I didn’t care about learning how to use it to calculate rafter lengths and roof pitches, which is a critical phase of house framing.  

In the same way, a milk-drinking disciple of Jesus Christ is still on the bottle, similar to an unweaned calf that continues to rely on the very basic nutrition it has clearly outgrown the need for. We need only look around today to realize that too many of His disciples are actually starving for the solid food they need to grow in the complete knowledge of the good news which reveals what Christ fulfilled regarding the promise God gave to Abraham.

Knowledge brings maturity. Maturity yields soundness of faith.

Every day that I live and expand my understanding of what Jesus and His disciples taught in the Bible presents new and challenging situations for me to learn and grow enough to be able to “discern good and evil.”

But beware. The Deceiver peddles his sweet lactose everywhere, especially inside the Lord’s congregations.

There’s no substitute for spiritual protein.

We live in a throw-away world.

Technology and competition are the culprits, but there’s actually an economic upside: Disposable products usually don’t cost as much—notwithstanding the consequence of inflation.

Unfortunately though, the value of a life also seems to have taken on the same pattern of unrecoverable depreciation. Today, if a man stumbles and succumbs to the tactics of the Great Deceiver, the unbiblical mind is quick to write him off. Repentance is often not a consideration.

But Jesus Christ’s faithful disciple sees God’s purpose for men from a very different perspective.

Our Lord created human life with the intention of salvaging it, not discarding it.

In his letter to to the saints who [were] in Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, the apostle Paul explained, not just how, but also why God desires to reveal His marvelous work [that’s us] to the rest of His great unseen realm:

“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach good news to the Gentiles—[that is, the] unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light [to all men] what [is] the plan of the mystery which has been concealed [throughout] the ages in God, who created all things, in order that now, the many facets of God’s wisdom might now be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms through [the lives of Christ’s] assembly.” [Eph. 3:8-10] [my emphasis]

A man’s regenerate life is a miracle for him to validate in this age for sure.

God saves him from the slave market of sin that he might experience life in its eternal form. But that quality of life could hardly be said to exist if he couldn’t demonstrate the Lord’s power and glory for the rest of Creation to see in the process.

God digs the broken man out of the dumpster and makes him new again. He shatters personal wealth, then astonishes the poor man by making him rich! He humbles the proud man then makes him a valiant warrior in His service!

He creates new lives that men never knew could exist!

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” [Phil. 3:7]

It started back in the sixties.

I was a teenager. The winds of change were beginning to blow through, and many of our congregations were about to experience a remarkable paradigm shift.

When the dust settled, some of the debris began to take root and grow. The call to “dress down for church” was embraced with jubilant naiveté in the adolescent community. But it didn’t stop there.

It also resonated with an abundance of open minded adults, having been pursuaded to let their hair down as well. While many elders and pastors simply remained silent, others jumped right into the boat:

“C’mon man, Jesus doesn’t care what you wear, He just looks at your heart!”

I bought it too. Whenever I found it convenient enough to attend Sunday morning worship service, I’d throw on whatever reflected the nature of what was important to me at that particular time in my life.

Not only that, I’d also bought into a nagging suspicion that dressing up to worship Jesus Christ somehow ran against the grain of what He taught! And it’s no wonder. That was about the time a popular artistic rendering of Christ’s earthly image emerged, depicting Him as a long-haired, passive hipster who appeared to reject traditional standards of attire.

So, is there actually a Biblical model for how I should dress when it comes to corporate worship?

I think so:

“The Lord also said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments. And let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” [Exod. 19:10-11] [my emphasis]

[Hebrew: קָדַשׁ (qadash) to consecrate, to be set apart; from the Greek Septuagint: ἁγνίζω (hâg-nî’-zō) to purify]

Let them be ready…

But consider also that, historically, clear-thinking people have always dressed themselves in a manner that showed respect for the event or person they chose to honor by their attendance. In other words, what people wore when they were doing something used to speak to the significance of the reason for their presence.

So…it would seem that the occasion of gathering to worship the Lord would demand an attitude of offering the very best I had to give in every aspect of that function.

Unfortunately though, there’s another aggravating effect in play today as well. The “dress-down” mindset that has prevailed for more than fifty years has become validated by the incalculable worth of personal autonomy. That’s actually just one more rotten seed that initially blew in and eventually found soil to grow in.

How ironic it is that the Lord does indeed look primarily at my heart. But it’s not just my conduct that’s a reflection of that. My appearance is too.

I wonder what He thinks?

Jesus never made any idle threats.

But He always demanded accountable behavior from His disciples. A good example of this can be found in the dusty files of Bible passages you’ll probably never hear anyone preach about:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace upon the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but [a] sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother, and a man’s enemies [shall be] the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.” [Matt. 10:34-39]

Now what could be more unsettling to the Christian spectator than this?

Because the world regards the bond created by human blood as definitive. Putting family first is indeed a noble concept. On the other hand though, Jesus simply won’t allow any biological connections to trump the relational dynamic that needs to exist between the members of His Body or between any of those disciples and Himself.

He can’t.

It’s said that blood runs thicker than water, but the Spirit is the water that cleanses me. [Mk. 1:8; Ac. 1:5; Heb. 10:19-22] The only role blood plays in that process is that Christ’s was spilled in place of my own. The apostle Paul also reminded the church of God at Corinth that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God. [1Cor. 15:50]

It may be difficult to swallow, but it’s not hard to understand. When I choose to give up my life for the Lord, I begin to see things from a different perspective. I build a new life with new relationships. But that doesn’t mean I have to abandon my previous ones.

I just have to learn how to prioritize. Until I do that, I’ll never understand why Jesus said what He did.

I’ll also realize why losing my life for Him is a lot more difficult than dying.

Competing for love is a natural consequence of living.

And the fiercest contests have always revealed themselves in human relationships. Love is the binding agent of familial and romantic ventures. It’s what makes the world go round.

And God is the authority on it.

If I want to know how to love, I look to Him. And if I want to know who or what to love, I can get that from Him as well. But if I truly want to follow Jesus Christ, I have to be able to recognize some of the things I shouldn’t love too.

The “disciple whom Jesus loved” warned his readers:

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride developed as a result of life’s possessions, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, [and] also its lusts, but the one who makes a practice of doing the will of God remains in the age [to come].” [1Jn. 2:15-17]

Our congregations are filled with men who claim to be disciples of Christ but are wholly unaware of how the forces of this world are enticing them and their families to participate in questionable behavior. On the other hand, the *F. A. T. man is defined by his willingness to be taught, for the Deceiver’s tactics are subtle but effective.

*[Faithful, Available and Teachable]

God’s men must act together as a herd of deer or a pack of meerkats. Somebody always has his head up, looking out for the others who are taking care of business.

And the business of discipleship in Christ is always a heads-up game. Falling for deception is bound to happen from time to time, but of no consequence if I’m willing to quickly climb back up on the horse.

Love is the Lord’s creation having no limits.

But the world exploits its potential.

Some actually believe that sovereignty is a political construct that’s incompatible with being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Freedom has its basis in the Word of God and cannot logically be separated from it. There is, however, a dimension of liberty that’s often neither recognized nor appropriated. The First Amendment to our Constitution reads:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” [my emphasis]

To “petition the government for a redress of grievances” is a handful of fifty-dollar words often used to define a civil lawsuit.

However, there’s a reason filing a suit is commonly considered to be off limits to the Christian community. Both the apostle Paul and Jesus Himself were clear about how those in Christ’s Body are to handle disputes among themselves. [see: Matt. 18:15-17] We’re never to seek a remedy for injury or loss from one another outside of our provision to self-adjudicate through His ἐκκλησία–or assembly. [see also: 1Cor. 6:1-11]

But nothing in the Bible prohibits the administration of justice at common law.

What if the authority God has appointed [see: Rom. 13:1-7] begins to violate His laws or oversteps its jurisdiction? Sure, Jesus said to give to “Caesar” what belongs to him.

But everything doesn’t belong to him.

That’s why sometimes it might become necessary to seek legal recourse against the God-ordained institutions we’ve created to serve us—or the private entities they’ve been known to protect. Our cheeks aren’t available for them to slap.

Of course, we might very well bring glory to His character by submitting to the oppressive conduct of a neighbor. [see: Matt. 5:39-43] But am I to ignore unwarranted oppression from what was created to govern or profit honorably in His behalf?

What shall I use as an excuse on that day for allowing His scales of justice to be tipped to accommodate lawlessness?

Accountability is that thing we either love or hate.

It’s the two-edged sword we choose to wield willfully or avoid at all costs. Its significance is forced on the young boy, but its shackles are loosened as he grows. At some point, he finds himself free to consider voluntary the things that were once compulsory.

But it’s not like some painful rite of passage.

Choosing to become accountable is the stuff of masculine maturity—especially if one claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It becomes etched in the mind of the morally cognizant man. And one of the most rewarding ways he demonstrates that is to have his family, his friends and his God hold him accountable through the covenant of marriage.

Marital commitment is more than just a credible tradition. It’s a burden a man chooses to take upon himself, knowing that, as he does, he consummates not just the institution itself, but also God’s mandate to help secure stability in both his family and his community.

It’s a self-imposed shotgun wedding—one where he’s looking down the business end of a double-barrel Winchester as he repeats his vows.

On the other hand, if he needs to have a back door, then he’ll make sure it’s not loaded.

It’s unfortunate that the significance of a binding marriage covenant has become so marginalized today. And it’s contagious. As co-habitation becomes increasingly constrained upon an unwilling populace, tolerance begins to resonate within it.

So, how can we show the world that irrevocable commitment is the only true adhesive holding a marriage together?

Perhaps first by preventing any disrespect or contempt to thwart the best of our intentions. If you ever actually considered taking some of John Lennon’s advice, this would be the time. While love isn’t ALL YOU NEED, it’s what must be most visible to anyone watching you out of the corner of his eye.

Trust, confidence and truth will follow.

Before anyone can set the bar of accountability where it needs to be, he has to be convinced that’s it’s really there.

A man fits everything into boxes.

When it’s out of the box, it has his full attention, but when he puts it back in, it’s out of sight and out of mind. Women hate that, but it seems to be an inherent male characteristic.

Boxes provide a means to define, separate and categorize, store and protect and, eventually, locate and make use of whatever seems conducive to living.

But is it always wise to think outside of them?

That might depend on who you ask. Artists and advertising agencies would probably think it is, while mechanics and surgeons wouldn’t. But, for the man who claims to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the question is, how should he make the best use of his boxes?

It’s all about sizing and prioritizing.

For too many years, I kept Christ’s box buried somewhere in the stacks of them I’d accumulated for myself. It took a while to find it when I needed it because it looked just like all the others. As a result, my life was incomplete and disordered to say the least. Every expectation I sought from any box usually lacked significance and rarely materialized.

So, I decided to quit living like a boxymoron. I decided, first of all, to give God the biggest box I could find.

But it wasn’t all about what I needed. It was about what His box deserved. Nothing in any of the other boxes accomplishes what His does. Nothing in any of them loved me enough to die in my place so that I might live again in the age to come.

Nothing even came close.

Every box I create for myself now automatically goes into His box. I have to go through His to access any of mine.

And if it won’t fit in there, I get rid of it.