The following is an excerpt from 12 Rules For Manliness | Where Have All the Cowboys Gone

Be Dangerous – Make a Stand

“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

1 Cor 16:13

“There is no man more dangerous than one who does not doubt his own rightness.”

Ride the Dark Trail – Louis L’Amour (Western Author)

I personally know such a very dangerous man. This man did not wait for trouble to come to him.  He went out looking for the biggest bully on the block.  He first faced him down out in the desert, then he wielded a whip in the outer court of a church and finally he staged a showdown on a mountain top in the fight of the ages and defeated his enemy using his enemy’s own weapon – death.  

God is calling you to be just such a man; to be dangerous. 

This man taught his friends to be dangerous too when he taught them how to pray “Thy Will Be Done.”  And he prayed this prayer himself the night before the big showdown and he lived for that Creed and he died for it. It’s time for you to pray this most dangerous of all prayers and so become the dangerous man God has called you to be and you know that you want to be.

Creating A Creed For Your Life

What is the Lord’s will in your life?  Ask yourself that question and then write down a one or two sentence Creed and then the Rules that you will live by in order to fulfill your Creed. My personal Creed is “The most radical quest that a man can pursue in life is to abandon himself to the wild adventure of God’s will.”  So stop and ponder for a while, maybe even a day or two and grapple a bit with God…what is your personal Creed?  Then write it down and sign it – the same way that a man writes down and signs a contract. 

Then think through – what will be the rules you will live by?  Here are some of mine in fact they are some of the chapter titles of my book:

Ride for the Brand

Be a Man of my Word

Be Lean & Mean

Get the Job Done Come Hell or High Water

Build brotherhood – Don’t be a Lone Wolf

How a Man Treats a Woman Defines Him

John Wayne once said in a movie “A man’s got to have a Creed and a Code he can live by.”  Do you?  Are you tired of just being a “nice guy?” Are you ready to be a “good man?” Then write down your Creed and your Code and come hell or highwater live by it. 

You see – a man comes factory-loaded by God with an instinct – a pull within him to live by Heroic Virtue.   In fact, the word for Man in Latin is “Vir.” Do you see?  Manliness and Virtue are the same thing.

A Creed and a Code makes decisions simple. Your course of action may not be easy but the choice will be clear and immediate.  Why walk a trail that leads you far from God?  Why not walk a little over there on the wild side, on the road less traveled, because that is where God is doing stuff and there is no wilder adventure than that.

True nobility, true humility is power under control.  Do not confuse weakness with meekness.  Weakness is the opposite of meekness. Meekness is the strength and courage to actively yield yourself to God’s will. It takes power to be able to do that.  The best war horses were meek but they were also very dangerous. They exuded great power and bravery in the face of battle but they did this as they totally yielded to the will of the warrior riding them. 

So be strong. Bridle your passions and let good things run wild in the pursuit of the true good.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:10

“There was a Texas Ranger one time who said that there’s no stopping a man who knows he’s in the right and keeps a-coming”  Sackett – Louis L’Amour

Be that man. Make a stand.  Conquer sin, temptation and sloth by an act of your will and by the grace of God.  It takes both Grit and Grace.  Why be a coward when you can be a cowboy?

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