Fight Like a Man (eBook)

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THE THEATER OF WAR

SETTING THE STAGE

A Man Forged in Fire

As exploding grenades and mortar bombs lit up the night sky on the island of Guadalcanal, the beleaguered warriors from First Battalion, Seventh Marines were in for the fight of their lives. Stranded in the South Pacific on one of the more than nine hundred islands that make up Solomon Islands, the small US contingent of World War II combatants was under siege by three thousand Japanese troops. Outnumbered and outgunned, the marines bravely held their ground and repelled wave after wave of enemy fighters. Just when it seemed like they were turning the tide, incoming fire damaged and disabled one of the combat crews’ main artillery. Defying every instinct of self-preservation, the commanding officer, Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, did the unthinkable. Exposing himself to flying bullets and hidden enemies attacking at random, he ran six hundred feet to the defunct pit while carrying close to one hundred pounds of weapons and ammunition. Back and forth he went between his foxhole and that of his comrades, providing supplies and aid while simultaneously picking off opposing soldiers with nothing but a pistol in hand.

Having lost his special gloves, which were necessary protection from the searing heat generated by his machine gun, Basilone sustained burns from holding it barehanded. He was credited with killing thirty-eight enemies himself, and as one of his fellow marines, Nash W. Phillips, reported, “Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest, or food.”1

After the battalion victoriously survived the battle, Phillips was being treated for his injuries when the sergeant came in to check on him. “He was barefooted, and his eyes were red as fire,” Phillips recalled. “His face was dirty black from gunfire and lack of sleep. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his shoulders. He had a .45 tucked into the waistband of his trousers. He’d just dropped by to see how I was making out; me and the others in the section. I’ll never forget him.”2

After receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, John Basilone was given the opportunity to spend the rest of the war in the safety of Washington, DC. John refused and instead returned to the heat of battle. In his final act of courage, bravery, and selflessness, he stormed the shores of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. While Sergeant Basilone’s life ended there, the ripples created by his sacrificial heroism continue to touch lives around the world to this day.3

I wonder how John Basilone’s story strikes you. Does his legendary altruism rouse a sense of admiration in your heart? Does his harrowing sacrifice evoke terror in the core of your being as you imagine yourself running across the raging battlefield in his boots? Is it possible that perhaps—in a sort of defining moment—it inspires a longing in you to follow in his footsteps as you fight your way through the biggest war of all—the one we call life?

A Man-to-Man Talk about Real Manhood

I wish you and I were sitting together at my favorite coffee shop right now. It’s a rustic kind of place. A mixture of used bricks, rough wood, metal fixtures, and distressed concrete floors makes it the perfect setting for a good old-fashioned, man-to-man talk. I would look you straight in the eye and ask you a fundamental question, the kind of question that every man should be asked—or at least the one that every man should be asking himself: What defines a real man?

Does this bring back memories of a US Supreme Court nominee saying no after a senator asked her if she could define the word woman? You and I both know that the world has completely lost its perspective on all things related to gender. When so-called influencers tell us that “men” can menstruate and conceive babies and when expectant mothers are now called “birthing persons” who have the ability to “chest feed,” you know that, Houston, we’ve got far more than just a problem. We’ve got an epic catastrophe on our hands. At a time when those who occupy the highest and most respectable echelons of society are publicly declaring that they can’t define what a man or a woman is, is it any wonder that men are losing sight of what it really means to be a man?

What I’m about to say has become so taboo in our upside-down world that those who would dare even to whisper this sort of thing are instantly shunned, cast out, and “canceled” as immoral dregs by the self-appointed guardians of this godless age. For the pleasure of my Savior and out of love for others, I’ll gladly endure that ill-treatment—and much worse. Here goes! Note this well: John Basilone’s life bears the marks of real manhood.

Before you tune out here, let me put some meat on those bones. Sergeant Basilone’s masculinity was not determined by the fact that he was a marine, nor was it because he was physically tough or adept at combat. It was not even because he might have been athletic, had a thick beard, or spoke in a deep voice. A male can be all those things and still not act like a real man. And by the same token, Basilone could have been none of those things and still have been the manliest of men.

Our war hero’s life bears the marks of real manhood because real men demonstrate character, courage, commitment, conviction, devotion, and loyalty. And what’s more, they’re willing to sacrifice for the sake of others and for causes greater than themselves. Most importantly, real men are willing to fight for what’s right, and they do so in the energy and spirit of those indispensable attributes I just highlighted. Pastor and author Robert Lewis reinforces and aptly articulates what I’m trying to convey:

What is a real man?…A real man is one who:

• rejects passivity
• accepts responsibility
• leads courageously
• expects the greater reward…God’s reward.

This manhood vision desperately needs to be proclaimed throughout our society.4

What Type of Warrior Are You?

So back to that other kind of war that I mentioned. While a tiny percentage of the world’s men will ever traipse across the theater of conventional warfare, every man born of a woman—and that’s every man—enters this world as an enlisted private in the inescapable war of life. While that automatic designation, by default, includes the title of warrior, a man’s chosen conduct in that capacity will determine the qualifying adjective that precedes that inherited title. Certain men choose irresponsibility and go AWOL. Others opt to become traitors and consort with the enemy. Some pick the pathway of faintheartedness and raise the white flag of surrender. And then you have the men of mediocrity—the ones who do the absolute minimum to get by and barely survive. These are the irresponsible, traitorous, cowardly, and mediocre warriors. But a few determine to tread the road less traveled and become the faithful, honorable, relentless, dedicated, and victorious warriors.

Within the broader context of the war of life, there is a sort of sub-war that every man finds himself engulfed in. It typically starts at the onset of puberty and fluctuates in intensity across the varying seasons of adulthood, even into the senior years. I’m obviously talking about the war of sexual temptations.

It would be silly to ask you which type of warrior you want to be in this relentless war. Which God-fearing man would ever seriously say, Oh, I most certainly want to be an irresponsible, traitorous, cowardly, and mediocre warrior in the war of sexual temptations? Chances are that most of the men reading this book will have, by now, crossed over the threshold of puberty. This means that you, my friend, have already made your warrior debut. So instead of asking you what type of warrior you would like to be, it’s better to ask what type of warrior you have been in your various battles thus far.

Hope for the Weary

I realize at this point that the thought of quietly putting this book to rest may seem very appealing to you. Perhaps you’ve failed miserably with one stumble into sexual sin after another. Your list may include pornography or masturbation. Maybe you’ve gone as far as fornication or adultery. It could even be a combination of some or all those things. And it’s also possible that you can honestly say that your only struggle in the sexual realm has been with the sin of proactively lusting after women in your heart. This could be through images of clothed women (whether in skimpy swimwear or other immodest apparel) that you’ve searched out or have come across online and via other mediums. Or maybe your main battle has entailed lusting after women you’ve seen in public or that you’ve conjured up in your imagination.

No matter how big or prolonged or shameful your sexual sins have been, an overwhelming abundance of hope is available to you in the inexhaustible love and grace of God. The glorious gospel, secured by the death and resurrection of Christ, not only redeems and regenerates but also enables transformative change as it empowers you in ways you may never have thought possible.

In Finally Free—one of the most insightful and practical books written on the subject of sexual purity—Heath Lambert beautifully extoled the hope we have in Christ with these powerful...