Hold fast

We have now come to the foundational authority for everything that has been written in this short work: the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. It is upon from this wellspring of truth that I have sought to extract practical encouragement and admonition, and it is to this that we will turn in the closing section of the book. For the man of God, everything done in this life should be guided by the voice of the heavenly Father speaking through the Scriptures. From marriage to parenting, from business to leisure, the totality of life must be brought into conformity with the standard given in the Bible.

Paul gives this command in Titus 1 when he says, “He (the man of God) must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught” (Titus 1:9). This phrase rendered as “hold firm” gives the picture of clinging tightly to something, such as a lifeline when you are adrift at sea. For us in this fallen world, the Word of God is the only sure and steady anchor. God has spoken, and it is primarily in the Bible. If it is true that the Scriptures are “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every goof work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17), then it is no wonder that Paul tells us as men to be fully committed to holding fast to them as the measure of truth in our lives. What does this look like for the modern man?

It begins with the surrender of the self-life. This is the way of thinking, feeling, and acting that makes the claim that the individual’s own opinion on any given topic is preeminent over any other truth claim. The self-life can also be called the self-determined life, a ‘truth comes from the inside out’ type of thing. Mature men know better than this. They recognize that much of what comes from within them is garbage that needs to be surrendered to God and molded into something good. Surrendering the self-life means laying our thoughts, feelings, actions, and even opinions on the altar of the Lord, relying on him and his guidance to direct our lives. That guidance comes from the Scripture.

Following this, we need to know what the Word says. It’s hard to follow an instruction manual you never open. The Bible is much more than a simple instruction manual, but the principle remains: to be guided by the Word, you must know the Word. Hebrews 4 tells us that the Word of God is like a sword, and for many of us we have allowed that sword to go dull at best and completely unused at worst. You can’t hold fast to something you never picked up in the first place. Read it; ingest it; learn it; love it.

Lastly, you need to believe it. I know this seems like it should put forth at the beginning, and it is, but many men don’t treat faith and trust as an ongoing thing. They believe it once as a kid and think that’s enough. Holding fast means perpetually, constantly, daily grabbing onto the promises and blessings in the Bible and not letting go of them. It means holding those promises up to God and expecting him to keep them. It means allowing the Holy Spirit to convict through the Word and changing in accordance with that correction.

Holding firmly to a rope means that you trust that the rope will do what it’s supposed to do. The Word of God is supposed to shape and mold a man into a mature and capable leader. Trust it, know it, and hold firm to it.