Book Review: "Strong: As a Man Is, So is His Strength" by Matthew Pennock

I read this book sometime ago over lunches at work.  It was a free download which was available HERE.

This is a Biblical study of manhood.  It is quite expansive, yet concise and poignant.  Straight, no chaser but more manly and less whiney than this song by the same title.

Cowardice is a sin unique to men in many ways.  Women can be cowards and scared, but men are called to be brave and to fight battles and to protect the weaker.  That is a very profound insight.

The book tackles being a man of God, a warrior, a husband, a father, and our responsibility in those dimensions to honor God and the very specific roles in which He has placed men.  Together with women we make up the very image of God.  Male and female He created us.  Men have a very specific calling in fleshing out in part the unseen Father in Heaven.

I enjoy studies in Biblical manhood that encourage me to go down with the boat if necessary.  It is a high calling and studies like this stir my heart to courage and confidence in fulfilling that for which God created me as a man.

It is worth your time.  It is a quick read and it is very insightful with many Biblical references noted within the chapters to support and anchor the appeal being made for men to rise up and become the men we were created and called to be in Christ Jesus, our LORD!

Some good quotes from the book below:

"...trends in the media clearly reveal a prevailing attitude in our day that sees men as little more than passive and irresponsible boys with no self-control."

"It is hardly fitting to call a woman a coward, is it not? Any nation that would ever send its women or children to battle instead of its men would be derided by others as a nation of cowards."

"It is never to the shame of women to expect their men to stand up, take initiative, lead, provide, and fight for justice, peace, righteousness, and fidelity. However, for those men who sit idly by and let their women do all the dirty and bloody work of providing and protecting them, it is to their shame. We can praise women who take initiative and stand up for great causes to get things done when the men fail to do so themselves. For those women it is to their honor, but to those men who refuse—woe to them!"

"God appointed the distinct gift of strength to the man, the gift of beauty and gracefulness to the woman, and innocence and meekness to children. Thus we talk of strong and courageous men, lovely and graceful women, and innocent children. Unless your thing is the Warrior Princess or if you live in an eccentric city full of effeminate men you don’t normally talk of “strong women of valor” or “graceful men of beauty.” Of course you can give an infant to a man to nurse and a M107 .50-caliber sniper rifle to a woman to take out an insurgent but it would not be according to the best wisdom would it? The fit is much more appropriate the other way around and not only that, things work out better for both"

"A man is commanded to work. Strength doesn’t come for free but requires hard work and lots of training! Mark this carefully: being slothful and passive is sin. When we are slothful or passive we are harming ourselves and others by making ourselves weak."

"We have dropped the ball as dads and have deferred way too much responsibility to the local church, and it has only been to our shame."

"Work in itself is part of divine providence, and was never an evil thing, but always a good thing. Under the curse of the fall work became harder, but it did not become evil."

"Stand firm upon your convictions and accept that people will hate you for what you believe."

"Through faith we can rest on Christ’s perfection: “Come to me all those laboring and being burdened, and I will give you rest.” Let us never forget that, as men endowed with such a high calling, we live, love, lead, work, fight, and suffer in his strength, not ours."

Those are just a smattering of quotes from a really encouraging, convicting, informing and challenging book on being a man made in the image of Holy God demonstrated in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

 "A true man of God is no longer under the discipline or fear of his parents. He is under the fear and discipline of his God."