Matt Hallock

“To be a Man of Principle, you will need both Principle and principles. One does not help you without the other. A man of Principle without a powerful guiding code to live by is a shallow man who loves the sound of living with honor and integrity but has done no work to actually bind himself to the higher authority of his God-inspired and self-instated code of conduct. A man who has a thorough understanding of a certain set of principles but who lacks the inner fire to live by his own powerful decision according to those principles is, during “good” times, legalistically obedient, trying to merely do the right thing and check all his boxes. Yuck! That kind of dead religious living with no heartfelt passion or fire is not at all what we’re after. During “bad” times, it’s no better. When the storms begin to pound him, he quickly becomes a deserter, a traitor who leaves the principles behind in search of some easier or more promising mode of living that will meet his urgent need to coddle his fear and comfort. Both men are easily tossed when life gets difficult. Neither man is truly a Man of Principle, nor is he a Man of Identity. When a man is so unanchored and weak in the face of trouble, the lack of Principle is a sign of the deeper problem of still not having done the work of discovering who he is in the Kingdom, who he is in Jesus, who he is as a son of God.”
― Matt Hallock, The DNA of a Man: How Your God-Given Masculinity Rebuilds Your Mind, Your Marriage, and Your Mission