Living With Purpose (Boys Edition)
A little polish will make things look very different in this world. Wax and polish will make an old car vastly more attractive. Polish on a pair of dusty shoes will change them from ugliness, to something neat and respectable. I can remember as a child watching my Dad polish and shine his boots and shoes. It’s as though his old shoes would renew their youth when they were shined and buffed. When shoes are cleaned like this, it’s true, the shoes are the same kind of shoes they were before, and maybe won’t last any longer, but they’re better to look at and be seen in. Polish counts a great deal in dealing with the most valuable and important things. This is especially true of diamonds and other precious stones. It takes lots of polishing to make a great diamond blaze with light. When they’re first mined, they’re often covered with a dark, rusty coating. But the polishing process brings out their beauty and brilliancy.
Sometimes we say about a young boy, “That kid is a diamond in the rough.” What we mean is there’s a good deal of ability in him, and some good qualities of mind and heart, but he’s immature and needs to be taught some positive things and how to conduct himself.
My wife and I were attending a basketball game at our local high school one afternoon when out of the blue a young boy came up to us and said, “Hello Bro. Matt. I just wanted to come over, speak and say hello.” And with a sure confidence he put his hand out and gave me a good strong hand shake. I was impressed with this young man and how he carried himself with confidence and poise. He wasn’t a stranger to me, for he attended our weekly Royal Ambassador (R.A.) meetings at the church where I pastor. This young boy of 10 years is in the process of being polished and certainly will be a positive influence on those who have the privilege of meeting him. I made the comment to my wife that his parents must be proud of him and that he is a sure product of his parent’s teaching and the R.A. program. R.A.s is a mission-education program for school-age boys. The R.A. Pledge goes like this: “As a Royal Ambassador I will do my best to become a well-informed responsible follower of Christ. To have a Christ-like concern for all people and to learn how the message of Christ is carried around the world; to work with others in sharing Christ and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body.”
I think boys need to be cautioned about the lack of polish these days. Many young men make the great blunder of getting an entirely erroneous idea of what is manly. Sometimes a boy smokes a cigarette because he thinks it will make him look “manly” or “cool”; in reality it makes him look anything else but that. Again you’ll hear a boy using blistering, foul words, and sometimes vulgar or profane words because he imagines that it makes him sound rugged, tough, and macho. All of that is the wrong idea of manly. Most people would agree with me when I say that courage, strength, and honesty are robust qualities. But they’re all the more robust when they’re gracefully presented to the world in a kind and courteous manner. 1 Peter 5:5-6 says, “Young men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor.”
Jesus Christ was the one perfect man who has ever lived. He was frank, truthful, and courteous. His whole conduct showed a marvelous amount of polish. He dealt with all sorts of people in palaces, at weddings, at funerals, at lunches and dinners, on fishing trips, in mass meetings, at the church (synagogues), in the streets, where people brought their sick and people possessed with demons for him to heal. Sometimes he was very popular, at other times unpopular, and yet through it all there was a polish of gentleness about him. He had a consideration for other’s feelings; a desire to do well and to give happiness.
This is the kind of polish all boys need to have. All the sterling qualities of courage, pluck, fortitude, vigor, bravery, grit, guts, will, truthfulness twined about with kindness, stamina, heart, patience, spirit, determination, and endurance will make these great, rugged characteristics of your manliness stand out as something beautiful and splendid. Don’t be afraid, boys, to put on the polish of true beauty of character. It will not hide your strength; it will only make it shine.
• This bi-weekly column is written by Matthew Dobson. He’s a teacher, U.S. Army Chaplain, and the Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in the New York Community. His “Living With Purpose” Book series can be found and purchased on www. Amazon.com. You can contact him at: rmdobson@liberty.edu.
