²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around Him. ²⁸ They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand. Then they knelt in front of Him and mocked Him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on Him, and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again. ³¹ After they had mocked Him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him. (NIV)

As I was reading those words, that account of the terrible things mere mortals did to the God of the Universe, something stood out to me that hadn't before. He took it all like a man.

At this point, Jesus has been betrayed by one of His closest friends, arrested on false charges, and accused of things He never did. Then, He was sentenced to a terrible death by a mob of His own people. If that wasn't enough, we see the humiliation He encounters in those verses, and then finally the agony He experiences on the cross.

All this time, we would expect Him to do something... Anything. I mean, He has every right to try and stand up for Himself when the false accusations are hurled at Him. He could've fought back when they started to beat on Him. And let's not forget the host of powerful angels at His command. He could've shouted, could've retaliated, could've thrown some punches, could've hated them all... He had every opportunity to be a "man". But He didn't take those.

He never lost it, never let pride take over, never wavered from God's will. And though His heart was filled with anguish and extreme sorrow, He still had deep love for these people that He made. These people orchestrating His death. The death He willingly chose... For them.

And obviously, that's not the only place in the Bible that Jesus shows how to be a man. He laughed with His friends, cared about the lowly, wept with the grieving, never wavered from the truth, and was in constant communication with God.

I'm not writing this to be directed at any specific person or group of people, or even society as a whole, but rather a truth that I wanted to share. I guess the whole point of this is really just to give encouragement and a challenge to any guys that might be reading this. Encourage them by reminding them that though it's hard to do the right thing, it's possible. Jesus was faced with the temptations this world is throwing you, and He will help you overcome them.

And my challenge? Don't back down. Satan is going to try every trick in the book to twist your views on faith, friendships, emotions, marriage, and life in general. He's going to try and trip you, then kick you when you're down. Don't let him.

Don't fall to the lie that to be a man you have to conform. Instead, look to Jesus as your example, and then set an example. Be a protector, a leader, a man after God's heart. Remember that there's nothing wimpy about admitting you're wrong. That there's nothing weak about showing others that you genuinely care. That it's not manly to impress a bunch of women, but it is manly to be faithful to your wife, before and after you're married to her.

And to the girls out there, not only is there an enormous amount of things we can learn from Jesus' life, but we can also help the guys in our lives. Help them by allowing them to be leaders. Help them by letting them know you appreciate the real manly things they do, and respecting them. Help them to be gentlemen by being ladies, and not conforming to our societal expectations of what a "woman" is (that's a whole other topic I'm sure one day I'll write about :P ).

So yeah. All that to say, don't listen to me. Listen to Him.

P.S. Thank you to my Dad, and all the other Real Men in my life. I'm glad God has put you all in my life to show me how a guy should treat a girl, and a glimpse of how God views me.

Anna Jewell
kawaiiscribbles @ gmail.com
(Close up the spaces before and after the @ sign if you want to write to Anna)

Copyright © 2013 by Anna Jewell

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Anna Jewell is a young adult who lives up in the chilly part of the midwest. She loves her family, her friends, her hyper dog, and her grumpy old cat. She enjoys music, and is usually singing, but also dabbles in guitar and piano, which she uses to help lead worship at her church and youth group. She's interested in art of many kinds; drawing, painting, crafting.

Anna's main passion is to help young teens navigate through the lies and expectations that the world whispers to them, and is currently helping out with a Middle School youth group. She doesn't know where God is taking her in the future, but she's learning to trust Him every step of the way, and trust that His plan is better than hers.