This post is originally from Sept. 23, 2009. Last Thursday I posted Pt. 1 of this 2 part series.
As I wrote yesterday, our society is attempting to emasculate all men therefore; many men have gone the other way to prove that they are men. They want to prove their masculinity by being a bully or a tough guy. Some men believe the more aggressive they are, the more masculine they are. These men are going to the extreme to prove they are men. The other extreme is that men become so effeminate they allow everyone to walk on them. They become so “in touch” with their emotions, the emotions begin to control them. Men like this want their sensitive side to be what everyone sees even if it is a detriment to them. Where are men supposed to be? How do they portray who God created them to be in a way that is not seen as a bully or a sissy? There has to be a balance. As we look at Jesus Christ as our example, he was never a bully or a sissy. He was always a man who was in control no matter what the situation. Jesus knew when to show force and when to show compassion. He had to be gentle because children were drawn to Him, but at the same time He was confrontational with the Pharisees and other religious leaders. He showed His strength as He calmed the storms and He showed His mercy as He healed many people. He was a leader for a very motley crew called the disciples. He was submissive to the leadership of His Father at all times even to the point of death on the cross. Jesus was and is the ultimate man. We need to learn from Him if we are to be Godly men.
Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Now, before you think that I believe we can be perfect or sinless; I do not. Look at some of the men that God used to change history. Noah got drunk, Moses murdered a man and he stuttered, Abraham lied about his wife and gave him to another man (not just once, but twice), Jacob was a liar and a schemer, Samson was a womanizer, David was an adulterer and murderer…Do you get the picture? God used these men in spite of their own sinfulness. God uses men who have a heart for God. Abraham was called a “friend of God” and David was “a man after God’s own heart.” Jacob was renamed Israel which can be translated “God empowered prince.”
So what made these men and many others just like them so special? It all comes down to their relationships with God; the fact that they realized that God was and is the Almighty. God wants to be our Almighty. He designed us to be aggressive and gentle at different times. He designed us to be leaders and rational. He also created us with all the different emotions that we show, but He wants to be in control of when we show them. Being Christian men does not mean that we are not masculine; it just means that we are God’s men being used by God as men.
I truly wonder what the world would look like if all the Christian men in the world would stand up to be used with the desire and the fortitude that God gave us from the very beginning. I believe that God is calling His men to be seen as HIS MEN!!!
Bradley D. Watson, BCBT Directed Path MinistriesAfter spending more than 25 years on church staffs, God has allowed me to take the experiences and knowledge that I gained to develop a Biblical Counseling ministry. The basis of this ministry is to allow God’s Word to shine on the main issues in peoples’ lives in order to bring His resolutions to problems.