Yesterday I had a couple of great conversations with two different godly men about the role of men as fathers and husbands. As I thought about it, I realized I haven’t written about this very important topic. We are facing a crisis of enormous proportions. The family has been under attack by Satan for at least a century. One of the greatest attacks has been on the men and their roles and responsibilities. Unfortunately, when men are left to themselves and not properly mentored or challenged, they have a huge tendency towards being passive. We too often abdicate our role as the leader of our families. We also don’t stand up and fight as protectors of our wives and children. We fail to realize that as our spirituality as men go, so goes the spirituality of our family. As men have pulled out of their responsibilities and simply passively forced their wives to fill the gap their families have suffered, society has suffered and so have the churches.
Where’s the Challenge and Danger?
By and large, church has been feminized. The feminine graces of love, grace, kindness, gentleness are emphasized but the manly characteristics like courage, faith, challenge, persecution and war are de-emphasized. Christianity isn’t for wimps. Real men are needed who will stand up and be counted. Churches need to find their voice in society. Challenging men to stand up and fight for God is part of the solution.
Next chance you get, take time to pay attention to how boys and girls play. Most boys play with swords and play fight, go exploring, build forts, dig holes, have races, go to play war and things like that. What are girls doing? They are usually playing house, playing marriage, playing relationships and things like that. When girls play with boys they will often play some of the games the boys play but they will also influence the boys to play the games that interest them.
Men and women think differently, live differently and play differently even when they are adults. Contrary to what society wants us to think, men and women are different and they are different because God created them to be different! “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” – Ephesians 5:23-25. Men need to fulfill their roles in their families and in their churches! We need men to be men! We don’t want to have men who are wimps, we need men of courage and great faith! “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9.
If Christianity and Jesus Christ is to be proclaimed in today’s culture, we need to have men who will stand up and fight for God. Be willing to be counted even though the message is unwelcome. Men are needed who will be the spiritual leaders of society. We need to step up and call sin sin. Through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we need to fearlessly call people away from sin and towards Jesus Christ!