One of my all time favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 24:16:

“…though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” (Proverbs 24:16 NIV).

I love the optimism here. Righteous men (people) get back up! They can take a hit… multiple hits… and get back up. In the words of the aging Rocky Balboa, “… it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”

What’s really cool about this verse though is the fact that it is a warning to people to who think about taking advantage of or intruding into a righteous man’s home. Look at this verse and the one that precedes it:

“Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against a righteous man’s house, do not raid his dwelling place;  for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” (Proverbs 24:15-16)

A word to “bad guys” – if you must rob and raid, for your own sake don’t pick the house where a righteous man lives. You will find him to be an indefatigable opponent.

Now here’s the thing… strength is more than the size of your biceps or the number of weapons in your night stand. According to these verses, strength is something that belongs to righteous men.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “righteous” like this:

• acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin
• morally right or justifiable <a righteous decision>
• arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality<righteous indignation>

It looks like the man who man who has a guilt-free heart and a clear and good purpose is the man who will stand the longest, fight the hardest, and rebound the quickest.

Maybe the best thing that we as men can do for our family’s security is not to dust off the gun but to do a moral inventory, confess sin, and rediscover our purpose as warrior poets in our homes for our families.

As a husband and a daddy, I want my home to be a refuge; a place of safety and filled with the promise of peace, love, and laughter. The best assurance of this is to make sure that I am the righteous man in my home.