Preparing Tough People for
Tough Times Ahead

— by Paul Coughlin - Part of The Men Taking Hills Conference, and taken from the upcoming Unleashing Courageous Faith

God, through creating us and by giving us His Holy Spirit, has given each of us a fighting spirit that when honored and seasoned is a gift to those we love-especially during these historical, difficult but temporary period in our lives.

The Greeks called this fighting spirit thumos, the seat of courage within us, and is building block of heroic substance. But before we can get to the good news about our thumos, we have to go through some very bad news.

Just as the gospel is bad news (each of us is stained by sin) before it is good news (that sin can be removed through accepting God's forgiveness through Christ), the contemporary treatment of our thumos is tragic, deplorable, and comical in its darkest sense.

Thumos, which represents animated spiritedness, indignation, zeal, eagerness, aspiration, guts, willingness, and a certain kind of cheerfulness-has been stripped from many, many men in our nation by both our culture and a part of Evangelical culture that has relegated this gift from God as sinful and "worldly." This has led to the destruction of countless lives and families that look to husbands and fathers for strength and instead find weakness. Here's why.

Life is demanding and difficult, and God in his mercy and grace has given us the capacity to do more than survive such assaults. He has given us the potential to thrive through them and to help others thrive as well in a unique and superior form of love-if we engage this third part of our being, our essence.

Just as we say that intellect or reason is found in our brain (what the Greeks and the Bible call logos) emotion found in our hearts (eros), courage and animated spiritedness is found in our chest and lungs (thumos). When C.S. Lewis lamented that we create men "without chests," he was mourning and criticizing the theft and loss of thumotic courage, aspiration, and a certain kind of heroic nobility. God is thumotic and as His image bearers, so are we.

This gift of a thumotic spirit helps us fight fear, to move ahead with boldness and courage, to grow in strength, and avoid the sin of cowardice that is far more prevalent than most within evangelical culture realize. This can-do spirit, which once defined American men, has been greatly neglected, abused and beaten out of us. That's the bad news. Here's the good news.

It is in you-it just needs to be recognized, honored and grown. This will be a challenge, perhaps your greatest challenge. Thankfully, God has helped us with this task through His Spirit: "For the spirit that God gave us is no craven [cowardly] spirit, but one to inspire strength, love, and self-discipline" (I Timothy 1:7). See the three parts of us that God ministers to through his Spirit, strength being a fruit of thumos, not our heart ("love") or mind ("self-discipline")? We see this in the world of myth and fairy tale, which can be highly instructive regarding common human experiences. In The Wizard of Oz the Wizard gives three beings-not two-a missing part of their essence. The church has helped men, like the Tin Man, reclaim their heart. Now it's time for the church to help men, like the Cowardly Lion, to reclaim their thumos.

How do we grow our thumos? That question is too big to be answered here, but let me leave you with this one exercise:

The next time you feel fear, lean into it mentally and physically (like during a conversation), put a slight smile on your face, and breathe deeply. This exercise and discipline melts fear-the enemy of courage, which is not the absence of fear but doing what's right despite the fear we feel.

And memorize and meditate upon this much-overlooked Psalms:

The Lord is close to those whose courage is broken
And he save those whose spirit is crushed.
The good man's misfortunes may be many
The Lord delivers him out of them all.
[Psalms 34:18-20]

Much like faith, thumotic courage is grown in the doing and self-feeding: the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It helps us deal fear a substantial blow and when this happens, hope, faith, optimism and vision grow as well-just in time for the new and difficult year.

When thumos flows, we become part of the new creation that God tells us we are (I Cor. 5:17). Here's what happens.

Each of us knows men who - because of their courage and character - are not affected by economic downturns, gloom-and-doom predictions and fear of the unknown. It's not because they are swimming in money, it is because their thumotic courage and confidence is not based on money but on God's good plans for them and their God-given ability to come through.

Economic challenges are no different than physical challenges. Both require passion, a wise plan, and courageous action. In a down economy, husbands and fathers and men in general, has a can-do spirit that is visible to their family, friends and community. Those who are charged with their care relax. Even powerful and independent women naturally feel safe in the presence of a man they know "can handle it." His mere presence is enough to keep the wolves of panic and despair at a distance.

Such men will take a second job, change careers or even start a business. When others are afraid, they are bold. When the mind and body beg for the safety of staying put or even retreating, thumotic men spring into action, creating opportunity.

But men with noble thumos will not only take care of themselves, but others as well. They give their strength and courage to those who need it in the same way a soldier shares his water and rations with those he protects or the way a star athlete can intervene on behalf of other students who are bullied or harassed.

Tough times hit each man. Godly and thumotic men hit back.

The sin of cowardice tells us, "There is no hope, so why try? Besides, I'm just one man." But God's thumotic spirit within us says, "It is possible and because you are my Image Bearer, you are capable."

Be sure to purchase Paul's latest book:

UNLEASHING COURAGEOUS FAITH

NEW BOOK! Pre-order now!

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Preparing Tough People for
Tough Times Ahead

Be sure to purchase Paul's latest book:

UNLEASHING COURAGEOUS FAITH

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GodMen | PaulCoughlin.net

Preparing Tough People for Tough Times Ahead

Be sure to purchase Paul's latest book:

UNLEASHING COURAGEOUS FAITH

Audio / Video

Related Links

Anti-Bullying Articles

Preparing Tough People for
Tough Times Ahead