How do you define MANHOOD?
Brad Paisley provides an image of the confusion around manhood with humor in his hit song, "I'm Still a Guy". He laments about how many men are getting their hair cut and even their nails done at a beauty salon. He sings that some have so much lotion on their hands they can't grip a tackle box. In the last verse the lyrics go, "I don't highlight my hair, and I still have a pair. Yeah, I'm still a guy!"
Healthy, disciplined masculinity will eliminate confusion around manhood today and we won't see - half of the babies born to women under 25 happening out of wedlock, marriages failing half the time and 40% of kids are growing up without a dad to come home to. This unfortunately reflects the state of manhood today and society is crying out for men that are "still a guy" to step up as examples in the home, church and community.
MANHOOD is defined in Genesis. God gave Adam a work to do, a will to obey and a woman to love in the Garden of Eden. The fall, Adam's passivity (Genesis 3:6) continues to impact us today. Thank God for the last Adam, (1Cor.15:45) Jesus the Christ who completed the work of His Father. He is our Savior and Lord, the One to embrace and emulate as a man's man. Doing so honors our Father. Failure to do so leads another generation into passivity.
The Word on MANHOOD is: "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one." - Ezekiel 22:30.
What a sad state of affairs! Not a man to be found that would step up to do what needed to be done at the wall and take a stand with the Lord. God expects men to step up, to be disciplined in this world, to stand in the gap before Him and to teach young men about Biblical manhood. The cycle of passivity must be broken.
Prayer guide: Lord, confusion around manhood today is at the core of many societal woes. Your word makes it obvious this is not a new problem and offers the solution in Jesus the Christ. Thank You for the example of Jesus as a man's man - a man that completed the work you sent Him here to do, obeyed Your word all the way to the point of death on a cross and loved the woman You gave Him, the Church. Help me follow His example - to be a man that will build up the wall and stand in the gap before You, the man my family, church and community needs. Amen.
A faithful father rejects passivity and is ready to stand in the gap for the sake of the next generation.
